A Golden Bachelor star says a filler disaster led her to seek out a facelift.
During the second season of The Golden Bachelor in fall 2025, Amy Kaplan competed for the affection of Mel Owens until the third week.
This week, she reflected on her post-show facelift journey on The Bachelor Happy Hour: Golden Hour podcast.
The 64-year-old mother of twins said she used to get subtle neuromodulator injections (e.g., Botox and Dysport) and dermal fillers over the years.
She was pleased with her results until 2020, when—after suffering a difficult case of COVID with a high fever that lasted over three weeks—she noticed a change in her appearance.
Her dermal filler, which had been injected in her lateral cheeks and temples, had migrated to different parts of her face.
As she had done before, Kaplan booked an appointment to dissolve her filler, but this time, the outcome was not as desired.
“For some reason, I had a systemic reaction, and everything started sagging,” she explained. “It was really scary.”
In February, when her appearance had not improved, she opted to undergo a facelift with Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Patrick Davis, MD.
From the procedure to her recovery, Kaplan’s facelift journey was documented step by step on TikTok by her 32-year-old influencer daughters, Allie Kaplan Rutstein and Lexi Kaplan Giudice.
During the procedure, which also involved an upper blepharoplasty and fat grafting, Dr. Davis found large amounts of undissolved dermal filler still in Kaplan’s face.
“He said he found clumps of filler, and I have not done filler for 10 years,” Kaplan said, adding, ”He took chunks of it out, and I’m so much better.”
Kaplan rejected the once-popular belief that filler dissolves naturally—and even with in-office dissolving treatments (hyaluronidase)—over time.
“Filler does not go away. I don’t care what anybody says. A lot of people are now starting to talk about their filler disasters. And they’re saying filler never really leaves your body,” she said, adding that she has no plans of ever getting the injections again.
Initially, Kaplan was concerned about the healing process after a facelift and kept delaying the procedure.
“When you go in your 40s—I’ve done my boobs before, and I did a tummy tuck, obviously, because I had twins—it’s a very different healing process than when you go in your 60s,” she explained.
Now, she is happy with her preliminary results.
On Wednesday, she posted an Instagram video joking that she “ruined” her face with plastic surgery, then posed for the camera with her taut skin and a big smile, writing “just kidding!”
“I wanted a very, very, very natural lift. I wanted something that was undetectable. I just want you to look like I did when I first moved out to LA. And I think he did a really good job,” she gushed in the podcast.
Despite a longer recovery period compared to her previous surgical procedures, Kaplan feels that the natural results that ensued made the process worth it.
“It’s just turning back the hands of time,” Kaplan explained. “All my jowls are gone, and my eyelids are nice and cleaned up, and my face doesn’t frown down anymore. So it’s super, super natural.”
“I said to one of my friends the other day, ‘nobody can even tell I had a facelift.’ She said, ‘yeah, but half of America… I mean, your daughter’s documented it.’”
Still, Kaplan was pleased with her decision to share the journey online.
“I am who I am and I’m very transparent. And it was actually a fun journey to show other people. And it broke the taboo,” she said.
Ultimately, the surgery helped Kaplan feel like her appearance matched how she felt internally.
“In my head, I am not 64. I work out for two hours a day. I have the vibrancy of the 30-year-olds. I feel really young. I am not a senior citizen. I find that frightening,” she said, adding, “I don’t want to grow old gracefully.”