Former Tory MP Louise Mensch has admitted she has had cosmetic surgery, saying she refused to answer the question while she was a politician because "female politicians are too often trivialised on the basis of their appearance."
The chick-lit author, who quit Parliament so she could move to be with her husband in the United States, said she had "a little tightening in my face", describing the operation as "maintenance."
Mensch decided to speak out after an independent review raised concerns about the normalisation of cosmetic procedures and said she was not embarrassed about the operation.
She told BBC2's Newsnight: "I had a little tightening in my face and I remember being asked about it by the Guardian - asked if I'd had a facelift because she saw a scar under my chin.
"I refused to answer that question, not because I was embarrassed about the procedure but because people are always trying to trivialise women politicians based on their appearance.
"But as I'm no longer a politician and the government has come out backing this very sensible report it seems a good time to talk about it.
"I had it done just for maintenance. It was something that I'd carefully researched, I picked a very qualified surgeon, I was fully aware of the risks and rewards, and it amused me that when the papers ran stories afterwards saying 'has she had a facelift?' they ran pictures of me pre-procedure, so obviously you couldn't tell the difference."
She added: "I like the way I look, I prefer to keep it that way. I had a very, very good surgeon. The difference is subtle if you get somebody who knows what they are doing. I'm relatively happy, I'm very happy with the results."
After her admission, she posted a slew of comments on microblogging site Twitter, both thanking the public for support and attacking Times Columnist Janice Turner after accusing her of lying about a facelift. She said "refusing to answer a sexist question is not a denial" after Turner posted the following tweet.