Plastic surgeons weigh in on controversial new film ‘The Apprentice’ that claims former president Donald Trump had liposuction and hair transplants

Former President Donald Trump has undergone multiple cosmetic procedures including hair transplants and liposuction. 

At least that’s what is claimed in a controversial new film on Trump’s life in the 1970s and 80s – and experts told DailyMail.com they agree. 

The biopic, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, features jarring scenes that depict the real estate tycoon going under the knife to shed pounds and restore his thinning hair, according to critics who screened it at the festival. 

While Trump has denied these allegations, that hasn’t stopped his appearance from being the center of intense speculation since his rise to fame.

A cosmetic surgeon told DailyMail.com he believes the former president has undergone three to five separate hair restoration procedures and a plastic surgeon said it is was possible he’s had liposuction around his chin and neck.

‘The Apprentice,’ which was made without input from Trump, 77, depicts the ex-president having liposuction on various parts of his body, a weight-loss procedure, and a hair transplant, which removes hair follicles from one part of the body to any balding areas on the head, in the 1970s and 1980s. 

In a statement to DailyMail.com, Steven Cheung, Trump campaign communications director, said: ‘We will be filing a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers. 

‘This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked. 

‘As with the illegal Biden Trials, this is election interference by Hollywood elites, who know that President Trump will retake the White House and beat their candidate of choice because nothing they have done has worked.

‘This “film” is pure malicious defamation, should not see the light of day, and doesn’t even deserve a place in the straight-to-DVD section of a bargain bin at a soon-to-be-closed discount movie store, it belongs in a dumpster fire.’

Dr Ross Kopelman, a hair transplant surgeon at Kopelman Hair Restoration, agreed with speculations, pointing to several aspects of Trump’s hair as evidence he has undergone hair restoration procedures.

He told DailyMail.com: ‘One of the most striking aspects of Donald Trump’s hair is its consistent density and coverage over many years. Naturally maintaining such density can be challenging… Achieving and sustaining this level of hair density often requires multiple hair restoration interventions.’

Dr Kopelman added: ‘Observing Trump’s hairline over the decades reveals significant changes. In earlier photographs, his hairline showed more recession, particularly around the frontal temporal corners. 

‘Over time, his hairline has appeared lower and more youthful, which suggests surgical intervention.’

And plastic surgeon Dr Gary Linkov claimed in a YouTube video he also believed Trump had plug grafts, a type of hair transplant surgery in which surgeons take hair from the back of the head and transplant it to bald spots, echoing many of Dr Kopelman’s sentiments. 

He said in 1978, at 32, the ‘architecture of Donald Trump’s hairline has changed significantly compared to him at age 18. The hairline is much straighter, it’s lower and it appears to be less natural.

‘And if you look closely, you’ll see what appears to be small islands of hair. I believe that he may have had a procedure that involves plug grafts.’

Dr Linkov also points out the change in Trump’s hairline, both angle and depth, saying his hairline became straighter in the late 1970s and 1980s and his hair grew further down his forehead compared to pictures from the sixties. 

Trump’s first wife Ivana Trump, who died in 2022, had previously said he’d undergone scalp reduction surgery, which removes bald skin from the scalp and stretches areas with hair over bald spots to restore hair. 

Additionally, the former president’s daughter Ivanka Trump allegedly told friends her father had undergone a scalp reduction procedure, according to Michael Wolff’s book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. 

In an excerpt published in New York Magazine, Wolff wrote: [Ivanka] often described the mechanics behind [his hair] to friends: An absolutely clean pate — a contained island after scalp-reduction ­surgery — surrounded by a furry circle of hair around the sides and front, from which all ends are drawn up to meet in the center and then swept back and secured by a stiffening spray.’

But in the 1993 book by Harry Hurt III, the Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump, Trump denied having had any plastic surgery, though he is no stranger to cosmetics, including fake tans and hair dyes.

The film also alleges the 77-year-old underwent liposuction, which involves sucking fat out of specific areas of the body, and Ivana had also made those claims, saying he had his chin and waist liposuctioned.

Plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr Rukmini Rednam told DailyMail.com it was hard to speculate whether Trump had liposuction on his waistline, because he famously wears ill-fitting suits that obscure his figure, but it could be possible he had it around his chin. 

She said: ‘It’s difficult to comment on his waistline as he rarely wears form fitting clothing but if he had liposuction it would appear he did not do the maintenance to keep his results. 

‘It also seems likely that he may have had submental or chin liposuction and his neckline did appear more defined while his weight and the rest of his face appear largely unchanged.’

The movie has not been released to the public yet and it is unclear the exact year the filmmakers allege Trump had the procedure, but photos from the 1970s and 1980s show little difference in the former president’s chin and waist. 

In addition to the claims made in the film, Dr Paul Tulley, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon at Kensington Medical Facial Specialists, told Metro last month that Trump has likely had upper and lower blepharoplasty, also known as an eyelid lift, as well as a face lift. 

Plastic surgeons have also previously speculated to DailyMail.com that the former president could now be taking weight-loss drugs like Ozempic or Wegovy after he has appeared slimmer in recent photos than when he was in office. 

Dr Shauna Levy, an obesity expert at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana, told DailyMail.com: ‘It is realistic to consider this possibility that he is on anti-obesity medication.’ 

The Trump campaign released a statement following the film’s premiere, threatening to sue. 

Whether or not Trump had undergone procedures in the seventies and eighties, plastic surgeon Dr Jay Calvert told DailyMail.com: ‘If Donald Trump has had plastic surgery, he clearly needs more. The neck needs attention. He needs an upper blepharoplasty [and] he needs a really good facelift.’