Miley Cyrus revealed the unexpected secret behind her glowing complexion: salmon sperm.
During a surprise intimate performance at Bemelmans Bar at The Carlyle Hotel in New York City on Monday, June 2, the “Flowers” singer opened up to the audience in between her setlist. “I tried that salmon sperm. Have you heard about that? I tried it,” she told the unsuspecting crowd, per People.
Cyrus, 32, elaborated on the details of the experience: “Tastes strange, but my skin looks good,” she said before swiftly clarifying, “I didn’t mean to drink it. It’s just like a whole [face] mask.”
While the admission left some of the audience members understandably slack-jawed, Cyrus lightened the mood with a joke. “I never met the salmon,” she quipped. “It came pre-packaged.”
Cyrus didn’t shy away from sharing that the treatment was rather, well, fishy. “I don’t even know if it is what it says it is,” she confessed. “I don’t know, but I do feel like my skin’s looking good.”
Cyrus isn’t the only star to embrace salmon sperm treatments for their purported anti-aging benefits. In a March 2025 episode of The Kardashians, Khloé Kardashian shared she uses salmon sperm in her skincare routine. While chatting with her glam team, Kardashian, 40, quipped, “I’m never gonna do whale sperm!” (She draws the line at other sea creatures, too.)
Kim Kardashian previously made headlines for trying a salmon sperm facial, a cosmetic trend popularized initially by Jennifer Aniston. On a 2024 episode of the reality show, Kim, 44, told her mom, Kris Jenner, “I got a salmon sperm facial with salmon sperm injected into my face.”
Aniston, 55, first opened up about her own experience with salmon sperm facials during an interview with WSJ. Magazine in August 2023. The Friends star recounted a conversation with her aesthetician: “First of all, I said, ‘Are you serious? How do you get salmon’s sperm?’”
In 2024, Aniston gave an update on the effects on Jimmy Kimmel Live! While she was yet to see significant results from the facial, she believed it to be “the future” of anti-aging skincare. “Let me explain to you, it’s not like, how do you get sperm out of a salmon?” she told Jimmy Kimmel, noting that, at the time, the process was “unclear” to her. She just took the facialist’s “word” and was, “like, ‘sure.’” “But don’t I look like a salmon? Don’t I have beautiful salmon skin?” Aniston joked.
For the uninitiated, the treatment typically involves micro-needling the skin with salmon sperm, which can be combined with hyaluronic acid, according to Beverly Hills-based cosmetic surgeon Dr. Gabriel Chiu, who discussed the burgeoning skincare trend with Variety in September 2024.
According to dermatologist Dr. Joshua Zeichner, salmon reproductive cells have been shown “to improve skin, hydration, plumpness, texture and wrinkles,” per a 2023 interview with Popsugar. “The effects on the skin are thought to be due to high DNA levels. DNA is composed of amino acids, which have long been used in skin care for their hydrating and cell-renewing benefits.”
Judging by Cyrus’ appearance at the 2025 Met Gala, whatever she’s doing, it’s working. The Grammy-winner lit up the Metropolitan Museum of Art red carpet on Monday, May 5, in a custom Alaïa ensemble and invisible makeup that highlighted her naturally radiant visage.
At the time, her makeup artist, James Kaliardos, took to Instagram to break down the look, which he said was all about “clean skin, quiet confidence, sculpted yet subtle glam.” Using all Maybelline New York products, he listed every product step by step, and captioned the post with a riff on the slogan: “@mileycyrus is born with it — and in this @maybelline Met look, she let it show.”
While Cyrus isn’t shy about letting the world know about her experimentation with salmon sperm treatments, she leaves the rest of her beauty routine to the professionals, and for good reason. In a recent episode of “The Interview” podcast by The New York Times with Lulu Garcia-Navarro, the singer explained why, unlike many other stars, she hasn’t launched her own makeup line.
“My stepdad asked me the other day, ‘Why are you the only one without a makeup line?’” she recounted. “I was like, ‘Cause that’s not my passion.’ He goes, ‘That’s the right answer.’ And it made so much sense. It’s like, ‘I don’t have a makeup line because I’m not a makeup artist.’”
After all, Cyrus has never pretended to be anything but herself — salmon sperm facials included.
