Did Matt Rife Go Under the Knife? Here's What His New Book Says — And What He Used to Look Like

Mar. 15, 2025

Matt Rife’s new book.Photo:Taylor Hill/WireImage; Gallery Books

Taylor Hill/WireImage; Gallery Books

Matt Rifeis getting candid about plastic surgery rumors in his new book.The 29-year-old comedian insists in his memoir,Your Mom’s Gonna Love Me,that his changing looks are the result of late-onset puberty rather than any surgery. His book hit shelves on Dec. 3 from Gallery Books. It’s “one part memoir, one part comedy special” and one part “first date,” according to its publisher.“Over a few months, I went from looking like a 13-year-old to looking like, you know, my actual age. Like an actual grown-ish man. My face got wider, my features became more prominent, I grew a few inches taller,” Rife writes.Matt Rife at the 2024 People’s Choice Country Awards.Tibrina Hobson/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via GettyHe says that his “bizarrely stunted journey through puberty,” became the basis for about a “million-and-one internet conspiracies about all this elaborate plastic surgery I somehow had the time and money to undergo.”TheWild ‘N Outstar goes on to address doctors and surgeons who had made claims about his changing appearance with his characteristic humor.“Straight up — if you are an actual doctor actually going on Tik-Tok to proclaim a guaranteed diagnosis about a dude you’ve never even met before, much less treated, how the hell do you not lose your license?”Rife’s book also calls out the “frightening lack of common sense” of these medical professionals.Matt Rife in 2017.Steve Granitz/WireImage“Can the medical board please just issue an official certificate telling you to get a life? Something to help these people get their priorities straight, because they desperately need it,” he adds, in the memoir.The book — which details Rife’s Ohio upbringing and how he rose to comedy fame before the age of 30 — also reveals his belief that, “good-looking people don’t always have it easy.”“If anything, as a comedian, it actually made s— harder,” he writes.“It turns out that pretty people are f—ed-up, too. Who knew? I’m in therapy. I’ve had multiple anxiety attacks. I struggle with clinical depression and I have complicated feelings about life, about my mom, about loneliness.“Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.In addition to touching on plastic surgery rumors,Your Mom’s Gonna Love Medetails Rife’s career playing some of comedy’s most notable stages and his rap battles with ex-cons.The comic caught the world’s attention through his comedy specials, including 2021’sMatt Rife: Only Fans, and 2023’sMatthew Steven RifeandWalking Red Flag,all released on YouTube. His most recent stand-up special,Natural Selection,premiered on Netflix in November 2023, and his second special with the streaming platform,Matt Rife: Lucid — A Crowd Work Special, premiered on Aug. 13.The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!He is currently on his largest tour to-date,Matt Rife: ProbleMATTicand in April,Deadlinereported that the star had signed a two-special deal withNetflixfollowing the success ofNatural Selection.Your Mom’s Gonna Love Meis available now, wherever books are sold.

Matt Rifeis getting candid about plastic surgery rumors in his new book.

The 29-year-old comedian insists in his memoir,Your Mom’s Gonna Love Me,that his changing looks are the result of late-onset puberty rather than any surgery. His book hit shelves on Dec. 3 from Gallery Books. It’s “one part memoir, one part comedy special” and one part “first date,” according to its publisher.

“Over a few months, I went from looking like a 13-year-old to looking like, you know, my actual age. Like an actual grown-ish man. My face got wider, my features became more prominent, I grew a few inches taller,” Rife writes.

Matt Rife at the 2024 People’s Choice Country Awards.Tibrina Hobson/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty

Tibrina Hobson/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty

He says that his “bizarrely stunted journey through puberty,” became the basis for about a “million-and-one internet conspiracies about all this elaborate plastic surgery I somehow had the time and money to undergo.”

TheWild ‘N Outstar goes on to address doctors and surgeons who had made claims about his changing appearance with his characteristic humor.

“Straight up — if you are an actual doctor actually going on Tik-Tok to proclaim a guaranteed diagnosis about a dude you’ve never even met before, much less treated, how the hell do you not lose your license?”

Rife’s book also calls out the “frightening lack of common sense” of these medical professionals.

Matt Rife in 2017.Steve Granitz/WireImage

Steve Granitz/WireImage

“Can the medical board please just issue an official certificate telling you to get a life? Something to help these people get their priorities straight, because they desperately need it,” he adds, in the memoir.

The book — which details Rife’s Ohio upbringing and how he rose to comedy fame before the age of 30 — also reveals his belief that, “good-looking people don’t always have it easy.”

“If anything, as a comedian, it actually made s— harder,” he writes.

“It turns out that pretty people are f—ed-up, too. Who knew? I’m in therapy. I’ve had multiple anxiety attacks. I struggle with clinical depression and I have complicated feelings about life, about my mom, about loneliness.”

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

In addition to touching on plastic surgery rumors,Your Mom’s Gonna Love Medetails Rife’s career playing some of comedy’s most notable stages and his rap battles with ex-cons.

The comic caught the world’s attention through his comedy specials, including 2021’sMatt Rife: Only Fans, and 2023’sMatthew Steven RifeandWalking Red Flag,all released on YouTube. His most recent stand-up special,Natural Selection,premiered on Netflix in November 2023, and his second special with the streaming platform,Matt Rife: Lucid — A Crowd Work Special, premiered on Aug. 13.

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

He is currently on his largest tour to-date,Matt Rife: ProbleMATTicand in April,Deadlinereported that the star had signed a two-special deal withNetflixfollowing the success ofNatural Selection.

Your Mom’s Gonna Love Meis available now, wherever books are sold.

source: people.com