Getting personal! Bethenny Frankel opened up about her experience getting Botox to relieve jaw pain with a series of videos shared to her Instagram Story on Thursday, February 3.
The Real Housewives of New York alum, 51, paid a visit to Dr. Howard Sobel, a board-certified dermatologic cosmetic surgeon and founder of Sobel Skin, based in New York City. He’s been her go-to for years.
“So I grind my jaw and when I sleep really well — which I have been — it gets really tense,” she told her 2.4 million Instagram followers. “Now I need Botox from the man who was the first one to do this; that’s a fact.”
What does Botox do to the jaw muscle? Per Dr. Sobel via the Skinnygirl founder’s Instagram Story, “It’s going to relax the muscle; you’re not going to have any pain anymore and it’s actually going to make your jawline look more feminine and more heart-shaped.”
The mom of one filmed Dr. Sobel’s process of prepping the base of her jaw line for the injections, as well as the actual act of getting injected with the needle. Naturally, she handled it like a champ.
This isn’t the first time Frankel has opened up about her experience getting Botox injections. In 2016, she told the Daily Mail that a specialist (likely Dr. Sobel) recommended she get Botox. “My dermatologist said to me, ‘Why don’t we try injecting your jaw because it’s so tense,’” she recalled, noting that the suggestion came “about three years” prior, so probably 2013.
“I do look different,” she told the outlet. “You can see that my jaw has completely changed.”
Botox has altered her face shape so significantly that Frankel is no stranger to plastic surgery accusations, but she’s is adamant that she has not had anything done. “There was a time that people said you had plastic surgery because what we did was we injected the muscle which gave you a heart-shaped face,” he said during their appointment.
Take, for example, in September 2020, when a critic commented on one of her makeup-free Instagram selfies, writing, “Yea but you have had a lot of work done.” To that, the businesswoman responded, “I had Botox injected into my jaw years ago after years of grinding and jaw muscle building and increased pain.”
Frankel did say, though, that when Dr. Sobel tells her it’s time to get plastic surgery, she will, and she will be transparent about it. “I’ve asked him if I need it and he said, ‘Don’t let them cut you,'” she told the camera. “Howard’s allowed to tell you when he tells me I need it.”
