Terry Dubrow missing from ‘The Swan: Behind the Mirror’: Here’s what happened
Hulu’s highly anticipated documentary ‘The Swan: Behind the Mirror’ premiered on September 29. Director Erin Lee Carr revisits Fox’s 2004 plastic surgery reality series. It features women from ‘The Swan’ back together after 22 years. It includes several surgeons and producers who worked on the series. However, fans noticed a key member’s absence from the documentary series. This includes Heather Dubrow’s husband, Terry Dubrow. The reality series promised physical transformations for participating women through cosmetic surgery. Erin spoke with many contestants from both seasons, crew members, and Dr. Randal Haworth.
However, the reality TV documentary did not feature Terry. At the end, viewers saw a special message on screen stating that he “declined to be interviewed for this film.” In an interview with Variety, the director shared the reason behind Dubrow’s absence. “Terry wanted a sum of money that would never make sense for a documentary expert. It was under $100,000 for one interview.” The director wanted to include Dubrow’s perspective while reflecting on the Fox series. There were major cosmetic procedures, fitness routines, and strict dieting that participants went through. But since Dubrow demanded money for his participation, he was excluded from the documentary.
Although he did not participate, the docuseries features cultural commentators, trainers, and contestants. A few female participants reflected on their experiences and how they felt during filming. As for Terry, he talked about ‘The Swan’ while he appeared on ‘We Need to Talk With Paul C. Brunson.’ He pointed out that before Fox canceled the show, the producers had already started developing it for a third season. He also said the upcoming season in the works would have pushed the format with some unexpected casting. “We were going to have triplets,” he noted. He added that the two surgeons on the show would have split the triplets between them.
If that had worked out, Terry would have operated on two of the three siblings while the other surgeon would have worked on the third one. “We were going to see how different they looked.” However, Fox did not renew the series, so none of it moved forward. Interestingly, while Terry was not part of the recently released documentary, a similar issue arose with creator Nely Galan, who also did not participate after being declined an executive producer credit along with some editorial control. ‘The Swan: Behind the Mirror’ now streams on Hulu.
