These Talk Show Hosts Are Almost Unrecognizable Without Makeup

With the caked-on, often cartoonish Republican makeup look becoming the new beauty standard for some public-facing women (Karoline Leavitt and her long list of makeup offenses come to mind), it's refreshing to see television personalities ditch their glam altogether from time to time. There were eras when it would have been unthinkable for female talk show hosts — who were once a rare breed, to begin with — to risk ridicule by letting the public see them without makeup. But now it's all about relatability, and what's more real than leaving a pimple or a splotch of redness exposed on social media?

Some talk show hosts have even given their glam squads the day off and greeted their viewers totally barefaced. Perhaps it's going a little overboard to applaud them for their bravery; they do have access to beauty products and cosmetic treatments that are beyond the financial means of most of their fans, after all. Nonetheless, it's always a fascinating demonstration of the transformative power of foundation, contour, a pair of false eyelashes, and a talented makeup artist — and it's strangely comforting to know that these ladies give their skin a breather on occasion.

Some celebrities look so different without makeup that fans make wild assumptions about them when they dare to bare their epidermises. Case in point: Rachael Ray's unrecognizable appearance in some of her at-home cooking videos. She's started forgoing makeup more often, prompting some of her Instagram followers to question whether there's something physically wrong with her. Others have begged her to wear makeup, suggesting that she looks sloppy without it. But as evidenced by the above-left photo taken in NYC on June 29, 2025, she's been happily ignoring their pleas.

In 2013, Oprah Winfrey's longtime makeup artist, Derrick Rutledge, told The Kit that a must-have item in his cosmetics toolkit is concealer. This is because Winfrey's busy schedule makes looking well-rested a challenge; she always has something to do, whether it's attending Jeff Bezos' disaster of a wedding or filming an Instagram promo for her 2025 special "The Menopause Revolution." Her unfilled brows and barren eyelids were on display in the latter, but she cleverly hid any under-eye circles or puffiness behind sunglasses with pink lenses.

Rosie O'Donnell's long-standing feud with Donald Trump raged on in 2025 when she took aim at his crimes against cosmetology by deeming him an "orange human" on her Substack. The former moderator of "The View" moved to Ireland to avoid being subjected to a second Trump term and proved that living well is the best revenge. In a smiling Instagram selfie, she also reminded Trump what natural skin looks like; he so rarely sees his own without its generous layers of Nacho Cheese Doritos flavor dust in bronzer form.

In 2023, morning talk show host Kelly Ripa kept her face squeaky clean to recreate a throwback photo with her kids. What probably stood out to many fans was how her eyelashes do a disappearing act when she's not wearing dark mascara or false lashes. In a 2015 behind-the-scenes Instagram video, she demonstrated how she takes her falsies off to her good pal and occasional guest host Anderson Cooper, who responded by exclaiming, "Ew!" He also sweetly told Ripa that he prefers how her eyes look without them. (Awww!)

She really did wake up like that! Former "The Talk" co-host Carrie Ann Inaba looked flawless without filters or makeup in a 2022 TikTok video. But according to the then-54-year-old, keeping her skin looking so divinely dewy can be challenging, thanks to the dryness caused by her two autoimmune conditions, Lupus and Sjögren's Syndrome. On her blog, the "Dancing with the Stars" judge revealed one reason she puts in the work to take care of it: "I don't like to wear makeup when I'm not working."

Ellen DeGeneres was among the celebrities who left the country after Donald Trump won the presidency a second time. She and her wife, Portia de Rossi, moved to a farm in England, where she adopted a more laid-back beauty routine. After her 2021 announcement that she was ending her daytime talk show, she told The Hollywood Reporter, "I will not miss hair and makeup every day." However, she cares enough about skincare that she launched her own product line called Kind Science, which uses natural ingredients such as snow mushrooms.

Journalist Katie Couric spent many hours of her life in hair and makeup, but then she got the inside scoop from fans. She embraced a pared-down beauty look after trading television for podcasting, and she totally abstained from makeup when she made People magazine's Most Beautiful list in 2021. "Now people are saying to me, 'We don't like you with all that makeup anymore,'" she said in a makeup-free video interview with the outlet. Couric shared that she also believes going overboard with the varnish makes people look older.

The luminosity level of Tamron Hall's skin always looks dialed all the way up. In 2023, she shared her secret for maintaining her highly hydrated appearance, telling NewBeauty that nothing stops her from treating her skin to its daily moisturizing mask. "If you see me in the city, you might see me driving or walking my dog with my mask on if I'm running late," she said. It doubles as a creative method to conceal under-eye puffiness, a problem Hall has been plagued by since childhood.

"Let Me Blow Ya Mind" hitmaker Eve probably blew a lot of minds when she joined her co-hosts sans makeup on "The Talk" in 2018, but not because she looked a certain way — rather, it was her confession that she hadn't revealed her bare face in public before. "It became a security blanket. I would literally put on concealer at least, just to go outside," she told ET. Happily, she felt a little more courageous after letting go of that cosmetic crutch alongside her fellow panelists.

During her time competing on "American Idol," Kelly Clarkson's aversion to makeup caused some drama, and two decades in the spotlight didn't make her any more enthusiastic about wearing it. While filming her show from her Montana ranch during the pandemic, her face often matched her natural surroundings. "My favorite part of ranch life is the no hair and makeup," she said in a digital exclusive on YouTube. On an episode of "The Kelly Clarkson Show" in 2025, she also stunned Naomi Watts by telling her guest, "I don't even own makeup in my house."

In 2015, supermodel Tyra Banks skipped her makeup and her sultry "smize" for a wide-eyed Instagram selfie. She also called out other celebs for using filters on their makeup-free social media photos, but admitted it was tough to resist the temptation to digitally alter her face. "I wanted to smooth out my dark circles so badly!!!" she confessed. In 2023, she told the Daily Mail that putting on a little weight was also keeping her from succumbing to Botox's siren song. "It keeps the face nice and juicy naturally," she explained.

Julie Chen Moonves showed off her smooth, supple skin in a 2022 Instagram promo for "Big Brother." After appearing on "The Talk" without makeup for the second time in 2018, she told ET that she was slathering her face with several serum freebies each night. "We get a lot free from the show," she explained. However, it's not her only beauty secret. In her audio autobiography, "But First, God," she reveals that she got a lower facelift after leaving "The Talk" in 2018. "I wanted to get a revenge face," she says (via People).

Sharon Osbourne's skin often looks taut and as smooth as glass, even when she's not wearing makeup. However, keeping it pulled tight has proved to be a real challenge. Sharon Osbourne has been honest about all her plastic surgeries, including her multiple facelifts. One of them was botched, which required her to go back under the knife. "That was the worst thing that I ever did," she told The Times. "I looked like Cyclops. I had one eye here and one eye there and my mouth was all skewwhiff."

Amanda Kloots served sun-kissed perfection in a 2023 beach selfie. If you look at it and think that she should step out without makeup more often, well, it is her preferred state. "I'm pretty much not wearing makeup unless I go out to dinner and meet friends or something," she told People. She also revealed that facials are one of her skincare secrets, but she's too busy to treat herself to them as often as she would like. "If it was up to me, I'd get one once a week," she said.

Former "Baywatch" babe Pamela Anderson took part in the no-makeup movement by ditching her '90s glam, and when she appeared on "The Drew Barrymore Show" in 2024, it inspired Drew Barrymore to wipe her face down in front of her audience and yank out her hair extensions. "I still get zits," she complained to the audience as she used micellar water to remove her makeup. The Flower Beauty founder later gushed to a fresh-faced Anderson, "I think you're the pioneer of what we're certainly doing here today." But of course we can't forget, Alicia Keys famously ditch makeup at public events years before in 2016.

In 2023, comedian Sheryl Underwood shared a transformation video that started with her leaving her skin fully exposed. She informed her Instagram followers that she often lets fans see her in the same state when she makes public appearances, providing photographic evidence from Colorado and Maryland. "But when I come to the ATL, I got to get that face beat!" she exclaimed. And after a mock slap from someone off-camera, she was suddenly prettified for a trip to the Peach State.

Jennifer Hudson's voice pays the bills, whether she's using it to give audiences chills by belting out power ballads or to interview her talk show guests. When she's in the makeup chair prepping for the former, she's discovered that a single device delivers multiple benefits befitting a music diva such as herself: a humidifier. She told Vogue that it keeps both her vocal cords and her skin sufficiently moisturized, saying, "While I'm getting cute I'm warming up those vocals and you don't even know it."

Microneedling offers a whole host of beauty benefits, and former "Chelsea Lately" host Chelsea Handler became a living testament to its capabilities in a 2019 Facebook post. Her bare skin was blemish-free and luminous after it fully recovered from one of the treatments, but the tiny needles are just one of the sharp tools in her skincare arsenal. She told Bustle that a blade is another one, saying, "I figured out that shaving the baby hairs on my face with a little eyebrow razor is actually a great exfoliant."

On her talk show, Sherri Shepherd revealed that she used to go to bed without washing her face, explaining that it was to preserve the expensive work of professional makeup artists early in her comedy career. But things had changed by 2025 when she took to Facebook to celebrate the success of her movie "Straw." Her youthful glow in the makeup-free video just might be related to the lifestyle changes she made after her diabetes diagnosis. "I feel better now than I did in my 20s," she told People in 2021.

In a 2017 episode of "The Talk," co-host Aisha Tyler said, "The other side of wearing makeup all the time is you feel more insecure when you don't have makeup" (via E! News). Luckily, her voice work on the animated series "Archer" allowed her to come to work without a stitch of makeup on, and she regularly appears on social media without it. This lets fans better admire the smattering of freckles on her cheeks and nose — and it presumably helps keep that insecurity from creeping in.

We can thank John Legend for one of former "FABLife" panelist Chrissy Teigen's best fresh-faced photos. "No filter necessary," he captioned the stunning 2017 Instagram snapshot of his wife. The photo was taken four years before Teigen underwent a cosmetic procedure to cut down on her makeup usage. "I never wear makeup if I can avoid it so I was so excited for this eyebrow transplant surgery where they take eyebrow hairs from the back of your head!" she wrote on her Instagram Story (via People).

Before Wendy Williams' talk show tragically ended, she kept fans entertained with her uninhibited openness. This extended to the work she's had done, and she actually filmed her doctor giving her a Botox injection for her show in 2020. "This morning I got here at 6:30 for a little breakfast procedure," she later informed her audience before showing them the footage (via People). In 2015, she also let "Nightline" film her before her glam squad worked its magic, even showing off the wigs she had to choose from.

Meghan McCain's hair once endured a good roasting when she used extensions to change her look. "Let a b***h live and experiment with hair and makeup," she demanded on X in response to the criticism. But one thing she insists fans will never catch her experimenting with is injectables. In 2023, "The View" alum wasn't exactly humble when she bragged about her face's natural flawlessness. "I'm pushing 40 — no filter and a needle has never touched my face," she wrote on her Instagram Story (via Page Six).

Former "The View" co-host Ana Navarro celebrated her 53rd birthday and her wrinkles in a 2024 Instagram post that included some makeup-less snapshots. Of the lines on her face, she wrote, "I have earned [them] through years of laughter and tears." However, she also got serious about trying to erase them. The year prior, she revealed that she was getting Daxxify injections, undergoing Morpheus8 treatments, and piling on the beauty products. "I baste myself like a Thanksgiving turkey with Vitamin C serum, hyaluronic acid and retinol," she wrote on Instagram.

Sara Haines let fans see her flushed face at the start of a 2025 GRWM Instagram video. She revealed that she always treats her skin gently when applying products, and she wears little makeup when doing it herself. Using tinted moisturizer in lieu of foundation gives her that no-makeup look, but she doesn't mind that it's obvious her eyes and pale lashes have been enhanced with liner and mascara. "As my mom said the other night, when I don't wear mascara, I look dead," she said.

When Ricki Lake showed off her porcelain complexion in a 2022 X post, she added a PSA: "No relation to an election denier in Arizona." She was referring to controversial politician Kari Lake, and Ricki's note that she hadn't used a filter might have been a dig at Kari's strange soft-focus videos. Ricki also revealed that she remained a Botox virgin, but she later got a lower facelift. "I kind of think it's the best facelift I've ever seen," she said on "Watch What Happens Live" in 2025.