Hollywood’s BBL boom: Plastic surgeons reveal the celebrities they think have had their backsides surgically enhanced
“Does my butt look big?” was once the question asked by millions of women with body image issues. Now a bigger backside is all the rage.
A record number of 28,600 women in the US will undergo cosmetic surgery to enhance their buttocks in 2022, the figures show, an increase of 54 per cent in five years.
Their popularity is believed to be due to Instagram, in addition to the rise of hip-hop culture and the ‘Kardashian effect’.
Plastic surgeons told DailyMail.com that while some transformations are more obvious – such as with rappers Nicki Minaj and Cardi B and Kim Kardashian – a more subtle form of BBL has emerged in recent years.
KIM KARDASHIAN: Pictured above in 2008 (left) and recent years. She has now opted for a reduction of her alleged BBL
Larsa Pippen pictured before and after her alleged BBL. She has denied reports that she had previously undergone surgery and said her bum was down to ‘working out seven days a week’
IGGY AZALEA, pictured left in 2013, was one of the surgeons’ favorite examples of a BBL. She has previously admitted to having the surgery
They speculated that celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez and Latina singer Becky G have had ‘tweakments’, in which only a small amount of fat is implanted in the buttocks to slightly accentuate the natural curves.
The Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) – also known as butt enlargement with fat grafting – became popular in the mid-2010s.
The procedure costs between $8,000 and $10,000 and is performed by taking fat from an area of the body, such as the waist or inner thigh, and implanting it in the buttocks.
The most common technique involves making four incisions in the buttocks and using a cannula – a small tube-like medical instrument – to ‘plant’ fat cells in the area of the buttocks where patients want to plump up.
Women who get BBLs will also undergo liposuction to reduce the amount of fat in their waist and accentuate their curves.
Some surgeons also use other techniques, including silicone butt implants, to accentuate the buttocks, although this technique is notoriously dangerous.
Dr. Christopher Costa, plastic surgeon and owner of Platinum Plastic Surgery in Las Vegas, said the best BBLs are the ones that “get the curves while maintaining their more natural look.”
He pointed to 33-year-old Iggy Azalea, who had one of the best BBLs in the business.
MADONNA in the photo in 2016 (left) and 2022 also went for a BBL, according to the surgeons. The star, 65, has not previously confirmed she had the procedure
JAMES CHARLES pictured above in 2017 (left) and 2023. He has confirmed he has undergone a BBL
CARDI B, seen in two photos from Instagram, has also admitted to having a BBL. She later had her butt reduced after complaining about an odor
“One of my all-time favorites is probably Iggy Azalea,” he said.
‘She had just the right foundation for it, as she carried most of her weight in the lower part of her body and had a wider hip size.
“I use her photos to help my patients visualize what they might look like when they come in and say they want a dramatic posterior.”
Others the surgeon referenced included Nicki Minaj and Cardi B, both of whom he said had likely undergone multiple BBLs to achieve their big butts.
Iggy Azalea and Cardi B have both admitted to getting a BBL, while Nicki Minaj previously said she got illegal butt injections.
Both Nicki Minaj and Cardi B have previously expressed regret about their big butts, with Cardi B saying the surgery left her butt smelling bad.
But the surgeon said there has recently been a shift away from larger buttocks, with more women now coming forward seeking only minor improvements to their derrières.
Dr. Costa said: “I still get patients coming in saying they want their butts as big as possible, and they bring in pictures of stars like Nicki Minaj and Iggy Azalea.
‘But there is also a group that comes for BBLs, but who deviates from the much larger bottoms.
‘They’ve seen women with big BBLs walking on the beach and thought, “Oh God, I would never want a BBL, you know.”
“But they still come in for surgeries to get body contours or curves — to achieve that perfect hip-to-waist ratio.”
Among celebrity surgeons, surgeons suggested that Jennifer Lopez may have been among those who opted for the more subtle enhancements.
The 54-year-old star is known for her pert bum, but doctors say they expected it to get smaller as she got older – which hasn’t been the case.
NICKI MINAJ pictured above in 2001 (left) and 2015. Plastic surgeons said she probably had two or three surgeries to achieve her bigger behind
BECKY G (pictured above in 2015, left and 2016) may be an example of someone who got a more natural BBL, surgeons said, which only slightly accentuated her figure. Becky G didn’t say she had a BBL before
La La Anthony pictured in 2004 (left) and 2021, she is said to have received a BBL
Dr. Daniel Barrett, a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, said: ‘She even commented about losing the nice butt she is known for.
‘I think it is therefore possible that some sort of maintenance procedure was carried out to help her regain her same appearance.’
He added: ‘For patients over 50 who come in for a tummy tuck or liposuction, I often say we might as well do a fat transfer procedure to their buttocks because they will regret later in life that we didn’t have done.’
But those who get BBLs into their 60s risk their backside looking unnatural, says Dr Barrett.
As an example of this, the surgeons pointed to Madonna, 65.
Dr. Costa said: “If you look at her results, she got a lot of criticism that it didn’t look that good, that it looked a bit strange and out of proportion.
‘(That has) a lot to do with her age. Anyone in their 60s will not have the thickest skin and the best ligaments to hold up the transplanted tissue.
‘And so if you inject a lot of fat, it’s difficult to get a really beautiful and natural result.’
BBLs are also requested by some men in the gay and trans community, both surgeons said.
YouTube star James Charles is an example of this, and he has now accepted a BBL to get a bigger derrier.
Dr. Costa said: “I’ve definitely done a lot of male BBLs. However, this trend has always been there.
‘It’s quite common that most of the men doing this are from South America and Colombia, and it skews more towards the LGBT community.
‘They want to make the butt look more sculpted and muscular. However, there is a group that is too concerned with making the buttocks look more feminine.’
KYLIE JENNER, pictured in 2013 (left) and 2019, is also said to have had a BBL. Kylie Jenner has not confirmed whether she has received a BBL
Jennifer Lopez, 54, may also have had a BBL, according to surgeons. They said this would likely preserve her buttocks, as they shrink as a person ages. Jennifer Lopez has not confirmed whether she had a BBL
Another celebrity in the smaller, subtler BBL club could be Latina singer Becky G, according to Dr. Costa.
He said: ‘People are coming in now and saying I don’t want these big, crazy butts, I just want to try to get these curves… more like Becky G.
“It looks very natural, and I think she might be a good example of someone with a subtle BBL.”
Becky G also never confirmed the rumors that she had a BBL.
One of the most worrying complications of BBLs is fat embolism, where fat cells enter the bloodstream and travel to a vital organ such as the heart or lungs, where they can cause internal bleeding and be fatal.
Other complications of the surgery include fat necrosis or tissue death and fluid retention, where fluids build up in certain areas and require further surgery to be removed.
Earlier this year, the CDC warned about butt lifts in the Dominican Republic – saying a total of 93 Americans had died since 2008 after heading to the country in search of a cheap BBL.