Knight Rider, Baywatch, and Click
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$110 Million
"I feel like Elvis, only alive.” Known in Hollywood as “The Hoff,” David Hasselhoff got his start in soap operas in 1975 when he joined The Young and The Restless as Dr. Snapper Foster. After seven years on the series, the young Maryland native was offered the lead role as Michael Knight on Knight Rider, which made him an even bigger star. By the time the series ended in 1986, the offers were rolling in but Hasselhoff decided a change of scenery was in order as he cashed in on his international popularity in Germany and traded in his acting scripts for a microphone to try his hand as a singer.
Returning to the United States in 1989 after his international acclaim began to fade, Hasselhoff rekindled his popularity in the States and landed another starring role on television; this time, as lifeguard Mitch Buchannon on Baywatch. The series became an even bigger hit than Knight Rider and made Hasselhoff once again a household name in Hollywood while netting him a cool $100 million along the way. After the series ended in 2001 with Baywatch Hawaii, he had already mastered what seemed impossible to many—relevance in Hollywood—with silver screen flicks like Click, Dodge Ball: A True Underdog Story and The Sponge Bob Square Pants Movie in addition to taking the hot seat as a celebrity judge on America’s Got Talent.
Now ranked as “the most watched man on television,” The Hoff is 64 years old but he’s somehow managed to defy aging over the last four decades in the spotlight. So, how exactly has he done it? With his unquestionable sex appeal as he saved lives in those iconic red Baywatch swim trunks, Hasselhoff hasn’t gone completely unscathed in Hollywood as many argue the Baltimore native has turned to plastic surgery for help. In fact, most of the rumors are incredibly harsh with his critics packing harder and harder punches like calling him a “wax figure” and warning him, “Don’t stand too close to an open fire.”
Facing the critics head on, Hasselhoff denied any invasive work at least for the time being. “I have had Botox, everyone has,” he told People magazine. “It’s a shot. It takes out the frown. I haven’t had that in a year. I take pride in that. I look great. I am going to keep this natural until I have to. I like Clint Eastwood, he waited until he was 75. He looks damn good.” To drive the point home, his representative later released an addition statement saying Hasselhoff has had “absolutely no facelift. He hasn’t had one! No work at all!”
Since The Hoff doesn’t have the same sagging skin around his chin and neck area that most men battle in their 60s, some plastic surgeons (tabloids and fans) speculate that the Baywatch star might have had more than just a few Botox injections to perfect his look despite his denials. However, after looking at and comparing photos from the late 1980s to present-day, experts agree that his surgeon did an impeccable job to ensure there were no noticeable alterations to his jawline.
Beyond the obvious and self-admitted Botox, what other work is Hasselhoff rumored to have done since finally getting sober? One of the media’s favorite rumors is that the actor has had a blepharoplasty to remove the wrinkles around his eyes and reduce the droopiness of his eyelids. Without any signs of sagging skin around his cheeks or his eyes, surgeons argue that this is a telltale sign that Hasselhoff has undergone a combination of eyelid surgeries and Botox injections to tighten his face and give him a more youthful look.
No stranger to being the talk of the town and a hot topic in the tabloids after five decades in front of the camera, Hasselhoff found himself front and center once again in 2008 when he was released from the hospital after having “something removed” from around his eyes. Photographed wearing sunglasses over a week later, people speculated that Hasselhoff’s team created a false story so that the Knight Rider star could keep his blepharoplasty under the radar. To this day, he has yet to admit having any cosmetic procedure done while in the hospital.
For now, it seems that the 64-year-old Hasselhoff has only had subtle work done in recent years. This has left many to argue that, despite his alcoholism and the ebb and flow of his popularity, he’s managed to age fairly well compared to other actors of his generation. Of course, one thing will never change and that’s how The Hoff embraces any publicity. Refusing to let his critics get the last word or the last laugh, he’s done the unthinkable once again as he prepares for his starring role in the highly anticipated Baywatch remake featuring Dwayne Johnson in 2017. How will The Hoff look? We’ll just have to wait and see!
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