In the April episode of “We’re Knot Done Yet,” Donna Mills, seated across from her two former Knots Landing castmates, states it quite simply. No sidestepping, no ambiguous mention of “good genes” as most actresses do when asked this question. “Back when I was in my 40s, on Knots Landing, yes, I did a lift,” she replied. The crucial part comes next, almost as an afterthought: “I haven’t done anything since.” It’s the kind of sentence that ought to put an end to a dispute that has lasted for decades, but it probably won’t.
Since about the Reagan administration, Mills has been answering variations of this question, and as she has grown older into her 80s while appearing, by most accounts, nothing like it, the rumors have only grown more intense. A few years ago, it was stated quite bluntly in a widely shared Reddit thread: aging “not 100% naturally,” but still looking amazing for 81. The comments were divided as usual, with half attributing genetics, half attributing surgery, and a more subdued, less glamorous explanation involving sunscreen and sobriety.
The specificity of Mills’s account of what happened is remarkable. Not only did she acknowledge having a facelift, but she also gave an explanation of why she would do it once, early, and then permanently leave the operating table. She noted that a lift done later in life runs the risk of looking stretched rather than refreshed because skin loses elasticity with age. It’s a minor biological detail, but it’s the kind of thing that indicates she didn’t just improvise a response for a podcast microphone.
Michele Lee, her co-star, provided an almost tidy parallel story. In her 40s, Lee also had eye surgery. She recovered so fast that, less than a week later, she sat next to the president of CBS at a dinner party, her bruises concealed by makeup applied by a crew member who was skilled enough to “blend it,” as Lee put it. Two women in their 80s exchanging these tales now, decades after the soap opera that made them famous, is almost heartwarming because it treats a once-taboo topic like casual dinner conversation.
This candor feels so different from the typical Hollywood script that it’s difficult to ignore. When the questions become too persistent, most actresses either deny everything or disappear from the public eye. Mills didn’t either. She continued to work, continued to show up at restaurants wearing camel boots and white suits, continued to cohost a podcast about a show that ended in 1993, and eventually came to the conclusion that telling people the truth was the simplest course of action. It’s unclear if that will appease the doubters who continue to believe that more surgery is concealed behind the narrative. Regardless of what she says, some commenters claim that the space between her hands and face reveals it. Perhaps it does. Or perhaps a single, well-timed procedure combined with forty years of sun protection is sufficient. People’s chosen explanations eventually reveal more about them than they do about her.
