Denise Richards had a full facelift last year

Denise Richards has detailed how she underwent a full facelift last year that has given her a “new lease of life”.

Denise Richards underwent a full facelift last year.

The 55-year-old star has explained how she had the procedure eight months ago and confessed that she was “terrified” about having cosmetic surgery on her face for the first time.

In an interview with Allure, Denise said: “I wanted to put things back up, where they were before.

“I was terrified. Being in the public eye since my 20s, people know what I look like – a facelift is not something that I could hide.”

The World Is Not Enough star explained how the procedure, which was carried out by Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr Ben Talei, has given her a “new lease of life” following her acrimonious divorce from estranged husband Aaron Phypers.

Richards said of her face before and after the surgery: “It is night and day.

“It’s given me… Especially with what I’m going through in life, you know?

“It’s just given me a new lease of life. It’s given me confidence. And people have asked me, if I wasn’t an actress, would I still have had it? And I would have.”

Denise – who previously had breast implants when she was a teenager – explained that she had contemplated keeping quiet about her facelift until Phypers “let the cat out of the bag”.

The former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star said: “Going through my divorce, my ex disclosed that I’d had a facelift. He had a photographer show up outside an appointment where I had some microneedling on my scars. So [my ex] told someone that I had a facelift, and said it was botched, which is really ridiculous.

“You know, I went back and forth about whether I was going to say anything about my facelift – um, he kind of let the cat out of the bag. I think I could have gotten away with, ‘Oh, she looks so much better after her divorce.’ I think I probably would’ve been able to get away with it – or not, I don’t know.”

Denise continued: “But I would want to know what other women are doing. Back when I had my breast implants done in the ’90s, we just weren’t open about that stuff. In a way, I think it’s good to be private. But in a way, I think it’s good to be open and honest – especially with other women that are my age and all of us growing up in the ’90s together, sharing information and being able to say, ‘Well, this is what I did.'”