Alexa Ray Joel: Plastic surgery rumors '100 percent false'

Alexa Ray Joel, daughter of music legend Billy Joel and supermodel Christie Brinkley, has responded to rumors circulating since early last year that she has had extensive plastic surgery.

"On a personal (and slightly ridiculous note): I would just like to add that all of the continuously-circulating rumors that I have had extensive 'face-work' and undergone breast-augmentation surgery is simply and entirely 100% false," Joel, 28, posted on Instagram. "The only thing I have ever had done is my nose, which I have always been completely candid, honest, and open about," she added, referring to rhinoplasty she underwent in April 2010.

"Would I do anything else to my body?" she asked People magazine rhetorically at the time. "No. It's not 10 procedures like Heidi Montag. For me, that's a little extreme, but to each her own."

Joel -- who began a performance series Tuesday at Manhattan's Cafe Carlyle, running through April 12 -- credited makeup artist and stylist Caitlin Monahan for her more glamorous look. "Any visibly positive alterations in terms of my public image are an absolute and sole credit to [her] . . . a true beauty-wizard and visionary. (That, combined with the fact that I actually have a hearty dose of self-confidence now -- which took me a little extra minute or so to find.) ; )"

Joel concluded her missive with a pitch for her show, adding, "But, hey, wouldn't it be nice if the press could just focus on my music and stage presence? Because, honestly, I would rather be judged, critiqued and picked apart for my actual work."