The 'Hills' alum had the surgeries in 2009 before filming began on the last season of the reality series
Heidi Montag said it took her more than a year to recover after she chose to have 10 cosmetic surgeries done at once when she was in her early twenties, including having "part of my chin sawed off" ahead of the final season of "The Hills."
"At the time, my surgeon was like, ‘Oh, it will be a quick recovery, a few months,’" the reality star told Page Six’s "Virtual Reali-Tea" podcast. "And it took me over a year to heal. So, I could barely talk. My jaw, I had part of my chin sawed off. I mean, it was really a lot.
"They called [husband] Spencer [Pratt] at a point and told him I had died basically. He had to come there. I wasn’t doing well. We had to have nurses at the house for months to help me recover."
Montag elaborated in 2018, telling Paper magazine she "died for a minute" while at a recovery center after the surgery. She said she was given the wrong dose of Demerol to deal with the pain.
Heidi Montag in 2010 after her 2009 surgeries. (Chris Weeks/WireImage)
She said at the time, "My security guards called Spencer and told him, ‘Heidi’s heart stopped. She’s not going to make it.’ And I easily could’ve. Cutting yourself up isn’t something I’d recommend, and Demerol isn’t anything to play around with. That’s how Michael Jackson died."
Aside from wanting to get away from "The Hills" ahead of the sixth and final season because she felt she was increasingly portrayed as a villain, Montag said her slow recovery made it nearly impossible for her to film.
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Heidi Montag in 2006 before her 10 surgeries. (Paul Hawthorne/Getty Images)
"I wasn’t even in a place [to film]," Montag said. "I kept saying, ‘I’m not a person right now. I need to heal and recover. And I’m not doing well physically, like I’m not able to show up like I was.’ I thought I’d be able to bounce back and be able to be on TV like I was after my first cosmetic surgery. But there was just way too much done, and each thing took too much time, and it hurt so bad. And I was in such an immense amount of pain."
The couple said they eventually left the show in the middle of the final season and were able to still get their same pay.
Heidi Montag said husband Spencer Pratt was contacted after her surgeries and told she wasn't going to make it. (Amanda Edwards/Getty Images)
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Aside from her chin reduction, Montag’s other surgeries performed on the same day included a breast augmentation, rhinoplasty revision, brow lift, liposuction, facial fat injections and having her ears pinned back, according to Page Six.
She'd previously had a breast augmentation and rhinoplasty.
"Obviously, it was my choice, but I wasn’t aware of the repercussions and how long that would take [to recover]," she added.
