NEED TO KNOW
Troye Sivan is opening up about his feeling on aging and cosmetic procedures, after a popular social media doctor publicly recommended for him to receive filler — and later apologized.
In a lengthy post shared to his Substack on Wednesday, Jan. 21, the “Rush” singer, 30, wrote about a now-deleted Instagram Reel, in which an aesthetic doctor said that he “does appear a bit more older looking” and one “could argue that he’s experiencing twink death.”
The doctor, who eventually responded to Sivan’s reaction, went on to say that if Australian singer-songwriter were his patient, he would recommend dermal filler and several skin treatments involving peels or lasers. In an update to his post, Sivan clarified that there were “no hard feelings” after he was sent a “really thoughtful and sweet message” about the clip.
In his initial reaction to the video, however, Sivan jabbed back at the doctor, writing in part: “What good is money and modern medicine if not to fix all of these flaws that this random sicko f—o plastic surgeon told me I have in an Instagram Reel?”
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The “One of Your Girls” musician jokingly wrote that he “[oscillates] constantly between feeling like I’m aging in a good way, getting ‘sexier’ with time, and then feeling like Gollum’s very close pop-singing relative. So decrepit, somehow both skinny and fat at the same time.”
Sivan also wrote candidly that he had “struggled with my body image for a lot of my life, as I’m sure most people have.”
“I’m historically famously skinny, and I’m not THAT skinny anymore. I’m historically famously twinky (I am still the Google Search result image for ‘twink’), and I’m not THAT twinky anymore,” he quipped. “Oy vey.”
The musician then explained that he often responds in two different ways to this kind of pressure — one way involving body positivity, as he’s recently made an effort to work out and eat better.
“I am body positive to my core and believe that every body is beautiful. I’m grateful for mine (and yours, sexy), and that it allows me to do all the things that I want to, free of pain and illness,” he wrote. “It’s also cool to age… I heard this piece of advice (anecdotally) from a person at the very top of the fashion world – ‘stay ugly’. i.e., don’t f— with your face. How cool!!”
On other occasions, Sivan shared that he still considers cosmetic procedures for himself. But, as he noted, he’s keenly aware of just how expensive and sometimes dangerous these treatments can be — and how they can still look “bad,” even after thousands of dollars worth of procedures, considering he was quoted $3,000 for a consultation about fat transfer to the under eyes.
“I’ve always hated red carpet photos. I think I’ve felt like I looked good in the photos maaaaaybe twice,” he continued in part, referring to the photo that the cosmetic doctor used of him on Instagram. “I knew on the night of the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) Gala that I did not feel like I looked good on the red carpet.”
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“Hearing this unsolicited medical advice given publicly by a doctor I do not know pushed me toward Prong #2 for a fair few days,” he continued, sharing how social media seemingly preyed on his insecurities, showing him advertisements for endless cosmetic treatments and products. “My all-knowing, eternally and deeply evil algorithm saw the opportunity in this moment of vulnerability, and pulled every lever and dialed every knob to 1000. …I hit the ‘not interested’ button a few times, and hoped for the best.”
“… I’m patient with myself, and understand and respect both approaches,” he ended the post, before acknowledging that the doctor eventually deleted the video and apologized. “It’s us vs species-endingly-insatiable corporate greed, with access to addictive brainwashing technology. Good luck!”
Sivan has been candid in the past about loving his own body amid criticism on social media.
In 2023, after he shared an image of himself naked except for a pair of globes from the inside sleeve of his third studio album Something to Give Each Other, he responded to critics and wrote that his love for his body “makes some people uncomfortable,” per Pink News.
“I like my body and I think that makes some people uncomfortable,” Sivan said at the time. “Don’t ask me about this in interviews. I don’t want to talk about it unless I want to talk about it, which I think is fair.”
