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AT FACE VALUE

Actress Says Cancer Battle Made Her Rethink Getting a Facelift

“The Whole Nine Yards” actress revealed she was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer last summer.

Roosa RahkonenReporter, The Looker

PublishedApr 15, 2026, 6:12 PM EDT

UpdatedApr 15, 2026, 6:14 PM EDT

Updated Apr 15, 2026, 6:14 PM EDTPublished Apr 15, 2026, 6:12 PM EDT

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Amanda Peet, 54, says her stage 1 lobular breast cancer journey changed the way she thinks about plastic surgery.

“I probably think about getting a facelift or something every other day, if not more,” Peet told NPR. “It’s on my mind constantly because a lot of my friends have done it, a lot of them haven’t, but a lot of them have.”

Despite thinking about undergoing the cosmetic surgery “constantly,” The Whole Nine Yards star has a unique reason to steer away from the invasive procedure.

“I can’t seem to just think about a facelift and changing my face; it goes straight to thoughts about death,” she explained.

While she is now cancer-free, the star says her cancer treatment, coupled with the loss of both parents during that period, has made her more hesitant about elective procedures.

“I have almost like this superstitious thing, that if I were to actually do an elective surgery to look younger, my cancer would come back or I would get Parkinson’s,” she continues.

'excruciating agony'

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Roosa Rahkonen

In March, Peet published a personal essay in The New Yorker, in which she revealed she had received a breast cancer diagnosis while both of her parents were in hospice care.

Before her passing, her mother was battling Parkinson’s disease.

Peet said she felt as if, in a spiritual way, plastic surgery would reflect a lack of gratitude for her health.

She underwent radiation therapy and a lumpectomy to remove the cancerous part of her breast, before getting her first clear scans at the end of 2025.

A CUT ABOVE THE REST

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Roosa Rahkonen

But even with her hesitations about cosmetic procedures, Peet was facing reminders of her maturing appearance.

In March, she was leaving an afterparty following the premiere of her romantic movie Fantasy Life when an older woman stopped her, yelling her name.

“She made a beeline for me and sort of opened her arms and said, ‘I love—' And I thought she was going to say, ‘your performance,’ because we were at the premiere party,” Peet said.

To her surprise, the woman’s feedback was something completely different.

“Instead, she said, ‘I love your wrinkles,’” Peet recalled.

Peet found the feedback “depressing” and thought about it the entire car ride back to her hotel.

“I was like, wow, is it getting to the point where not taking away my wrinkles is as distracting as if I got a weird pull or lift or whatever.”

Roosa RahkonenReporter, The Looker

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