October 5 2002

By Coeli Carr | New York Post

PATRICIA Heaton, the Emmy-winning wife of Raymond on "Everybody Loves Raymond," is lifting the veil on TV glamour. 

"There's no way I could look the way I do if I didn't have the surgery," she says bluntly. 

Heaton, 44, the mother of four boys ranging in age from three to nine, believes what you don't see can hurt you. 

She has written a new memoir, "Motherhood and Hollywood: How to Get a Job Like Mine." 

Now, at the peak of her career, she gets night sweats over the idea that people believe she is a role model. 

"There's a way we actresses sort of have to promote ourselves as having it all together and being glamorous, and yet being a perfect mom," she told The Post. 

"A lot of people out there who look at magazines, pictures and award shows, see all these actresses who have kids and yet they're looking fantastic," Heaton says. 

"I think people really should know that, if you also had a team of experts working you for three or four hours, and you had been fasting for 10 days before that, and people were lending you $10,000 dresses and $50,000 necklaces, you could look fabulous, too." 

Heaton speaks openly about having had plastic surgery, including a tummy tuck and a breast lift. 

"Pregnancies and nursing do something to your body that no amount of sit-ups and working out can fix." 

Heaton acknowledges that she is not exactly on a campaign to spill Hollywood's secrets - but she would like to see TV moms get a better shake. 

"You get the least amount of press coverage outside of the show because it's not 'Sex and the City' or 'Will and Grace' and not the latest parade of fashion," she says. "And you are being a mom which, for many people, immediately puts you in the category of androgynous or asexual. I'm not on a crusade, but I feel stay-at-home moms are seen as uninteresting. 

"It's probably the least glamorous role on television - ask Jane Kaczmarek," says Heaton, referring to her friend who plays the mom on "Malcolm in the Middle." 

Heaton's own favorite TV "mother figure"? 

Unhesitatingly, she says Aunt Bee, a character created by Florence Bavier for "The Andy Griffith Show." 

"Aunt Bee was plump and always wore a dress and apron and was baking something and fussing around people," Heaton says. "There's one thing about staying fit and looking great, yet there's something about the mom or grandma that's plump and soft that you can lean up against that's not all muscle and bone."