Mormon Wives’ Jessi Draper Called Out “Bullying” Post-Plastic Surgery

In an age of greater plastic surgery transparency, there are still plenty of critics. Just ask Jessi Draper (formerly Ngatikaura) of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. The reality TV star was open about getting work done on her face in between seasons of the hit Hulu show in December, and in a Jan. 20 TikTok, she shared that she’s “getting a lot of harassment and bullying” about her current appearance.

Jessi’s Rough Plastic Surgery Recovery

Draper filmed the TikTok four weeks post-op as she prepared to go to the doctor, and she used the occasion to address the fact that she’s still “holding on to swelling” that has made her face look puffy longer than expected. Many of her followers have assumed her goal was to look as she does now, so she wanted to correct them.

“Believe it or not, this is actually not how I want to look,” Draper said, going on to clarify that she’s “still healing.” She explained that her doctor’s appointment was to get steroid injections to hopefully bring down the facial swelling. Other methods she’s already tried include icing and an anti-inflammatory diet.

“I would give anything to have my old face back right now,” she said. “I’m hating how I look. This is not what I want to look like. I’m not choosing to look like this.”

However, Draper remained optimistic. Looking ahead another month, she predicted that she’ll feel “so good and so happy” about the results. For now, she said, it’s a “mind trip,” and the harsh comments online haven’t helped.

“It just really sucks that I’m getting a lot of harassment and bullying, just for, like, something I chose to do for myself,” she said. “Didn’t hurt anyone, it doesn’t affect anyone, and I’m having to delete comments constantly because people are really, really mean.”

What Plastic Surgery Did Jessi Have Done?

In a previous TikTok from Jan. 15, Draper explained that she’d had upper and lower blepharoplasty in December. (The cosmetic procedure “removes excess skin from the eyelids,” according to the Mayo Clinic.) In addition, she got facial fat grafting, which she pointed to as the cause of the swelling. Using fat from her outer thighs, a plastic surgeon injected it into her cheeks and around her jaw to give her the volume she previously got from fillers.

Draper acknowledged in both TikToks that she has self-image insecurities and is working on them in therapy. “It’s something that I’ve always struggled with, but especially being on TV, it’s heightened,” she said on Jan. 15. “For example, I have to delete comments every single day about my appearance on my posts. … I challenge any one of you to go on national television and have your looks ripped apart all the time and not be insecure.”

Though she hopes “the hate can stop,” she doesn’t plan to let it stop her from being transparent about the work she gets done. Assuming all goes to plan, this will be Draper’s last cosmetic surgery until “a face lift in [her] 50s.”