Amber Tamblyn Revealed That She Underwent Ear-Pinning Surgery At 12 Years Old

This post contains discussion of body image issues.

You may or may not know that Amber's been acting since she was 11 years old. One of her first appearances was on the long-running ABC soap opera General Hospital.

Abc / Everett Collection

In an essay for The New York Times, Amber revealed that, after taking the TV role, she underwent ear-pinning surgery — a medical procedure that draws your ears closer to your face to make them less prominent.

“As a little girl, I had ears that stuck out like butterfly wings," she wrote. "Some kids at my school in Los Angeles would make fun of them, and I’d often stare at myself in the mirror wishing my ears would lay flat against my head."

“I opted to undergo ear-pinning surgery, a decision I’ve never made public until now. For years, my parents watched my struggle with private shame, though they understood I was a tough kid who could handle it."

"But once I knew millions of people all over the world would be judging me on their television screens, not just on a playground, that knowledge changed everything for me."

Amber described her decision to undergo the procedure as "choosing a weapon I could wield in self-defense against my own disposability. It showed the world that I understood the assignment of assimilation—that I could do whatever it took to fit in, never stand out, the way my ears once did.”

“Over three decades, my responsibility not just to my craft of performing but to the performance of youthfulness was reinforced constantly. Would I be less happy if I had fought against the desire to get my ears pinned back, if they still stuck out today?”

“I don’t know — but I do think about it often, and about my willingness to align myself with the industry’s expectations.”

In the essay, Amber also specified that she's “not saying that plastic surgery is bad or that everyone who elects to change their bodies regrets their decision.”

“I’m also not immune to wanting to feel beautiful and desired, and indulging in that need," she added. "I don’t apologize for what I’ve done, or for what I haven’t.”

“My relationship to my body has changed, healed even, as I’ve become more protective, compassionate and honest.”

You can read all Amber had to say here.