When it comes to cosmetic work, “Real Housewives of New York City” star Jessel Taank likes to keep it real.
Taank, 41, tells Page Six’s “Virtual Reali-Tea” about her Botox and filler use after castmate Brynn Whitfield, 39, shaded her for debuting a “new face” in their second season of the Bravo reality show.
“It just so happens that when you watch yourself on television, you notice everything,” shares the fashion publicist, who joined the series alongside Whitfield when it was rebooted with an entirely new group of women in 2023.
“So I was like, ‘You know what? I’m just going to tweak a couple of things.’ Also, like, who doesn’t get Botox? Who doesn’t get a little filler here and there?”
In the Jan. 7 episode of “RHONY,” Whitfield accused Taank of having “a different face and different teeth,” calling out the “old Jessel” for switching up her appearance for the cameras.
Taank — who notes that she has embraced noninvasive cosmetic enhancements since her 20s — believes Whitfield was trying to make her out to be “vain,” a quality that the OUSHQ founder isn’t afraid to own.
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“I’ve gotten Botox since I was 26. It is a game changer. I’m not a gatekeeper and I’m certainly not the type of person to be doing all these procedures and not talking about it,” she says.
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“So I talk about it on my social [media]. I don’t want people to ever feel like I’m doing things behind [closed doors]. I get it, we’re on television. It comes with the territory.”
In addition to injectables, Taank is also transparent about her porcelain veneers, which were administered by celebrity cosmetic dentist Dr. Victoria Veytsman.
“I did get veneers. My dentist is amazing, Dr. Victoria Veytsman. She’s the best, she does every celebrity,” she says of the dental doyenne, whose patients include Lazy Koshy, Whitney Port, Jaime King and Luann de Lesseps, among other notable names.
Taank says she turned to Dr. Veytsman decades after sustaining a childhood accident that impacted the look of her smile.
“There’s actually a very funny story. When I was a kid, I was running by a swimming pool on vacation and I slipped,” she recalls. “I slammed my mouth on the concrete and so I actually had to get cosmetic resurfacing or reconstruction [on my teeth] or whatever.”
“The Real Housewives of New York City” airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.