Joey King Responds to Online Rumors Claiming She’s Had a Facelift: ‘Glad We’re Talking About This’

Joey King is addressing claims she underwent plastic surgery to prepare for her appearance at this year’s Met Gala back in May.

“I didn’t get a facelift,” King, 27, told Owen Thiele on the Friday, September 11, episode of his “In Your Dreams” podcast. “I’m glad we’re talking about this. … Just want to let you know, didn’t get work done, didn’t get a facelift.”

The Practical Magic 2 star went on to reveal what she actually did to get ready to walk the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City for the second year in a row.

“What I did do, I got a spray tan,” she recalled. “And then I did a 36-hour fast. No food, nothing but water, which I don’t promote that.”

King explained that she had attended a bachelorette party the weekend before the Met Gala, which resulted in her “looking swollen” because she was “drinking a lot.”

“I looked busted,” she continued. “And I was like, ‘I gotta do a reset. I’m going to do a 24-hour fast, which is good for you to do once a month if you’re healthy enough to do anyway. By the time I woke up and ordered lunch the next day, it wound up being 36 hours and everything.”

In addition to fasting, King said she got a “lymphatic massage” and a facial the day before fashion’s biggest night, followed by another face massage the day of the event.

“We were doing everything we could to look amazing on the carpet, and guess what, it worked because everybody thought I had plastic surgery,” she concluded.

King turned heads at this year’s Met Gala by wearing a sheer Miu Miu gown. She pulled off another stunning sheer look at the Practical Magic 2 premiere in London on August 26, making headlines for her floral gown with yellow Miu Miu undergarments.

King’s casting in Practical Magic 2 as Kylie Owens, the younger daughter of Sandra Bullock’s Sally Owens, has been met with backlash due to the Kissing Booth star replacing Rachel Evan Wood, who played the character in the 1998 original film. (Maisie Williams also replaced Alexandra Artrip as Antonia Owens, Sally’s older daughter.)

Days before Practical Magic 2’s premiere, Wood, 38, threw shade at the cast while praising King.

“I really appreciated Joey King reaching out to me because no one who worked on the original film did. She’s a sweetheart,” she wrote via her Instagram Stories on September 1.

King also told The Hollywood Reporter that she had a “lovely” conversation with Wood in light of the recasting decision.

“I just was so appreciative of the support that she showed to me and to the rest of the cast. She is so talented and so beautiful and she made this role so special when she was a young girl,” King said. “I feel so grateful to be able to play Kylie at this age but I love Evan so much and I’m so appreciative of her kind words and the exchange that her and I shared.”

Wood previously claimed in July 2025 that she was not “asked to come back” for the sequel despite offering her “services.” The film’s director, Susanne Bier, told THR that recasting was necessary to create a “certain age group.”

“In the story, they’re just, like, literally out of college, and with Joey and Maisie it just felt completely right,” she explained.