SerpApi.Org
The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders veteran shares the details of her surgeries, various cosmetic prosthetics and the “privilege” of raising awareness around the condition
NEED TO KNOW
- Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader veteran Jenna Waller opens up to PEOPLE about her cleft lip journey
- The professional dancer revealed on season 3 of Netflix’s America’s Sweethearts that growing up with a missing tooth after corrective cleft lip surgery caused insecurities that she struggled with in silence
- Waller shares her future plans to get a tooth implant as she details her various forms of enhancements for her missing tooth
The majority of Jenna Waller’s childhood felt like it was spent at doctors’ offices and surgery rooms.
The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader, 24, was born with a cleft lip, which is a birth defect that occurs in a baby when the upper lip doesn’t fully close during development.
For the first two decades of her life, she underwent four corrective and reconstructive surgeries, her first when she was just 11 days old. “That was to repair the lip. Then I had another surgery at 4 years old because my lip got a keloid, so they had to do a revision on that,” Waller tells PEOPLE. The following surgeries occurred when she was 9 and 17; in the first, bone marrow was taken from her hip and transplanted into her gums and during the second, bone graft was inserted into the same area.
“I was at the doctor’s office probably once a month. If it was less than that, it felt like a lot. [Seeing] dentists, prosthodontists, orthodontists was constant through my whole childhood. It was normal to me. I just lived with it. That was my life.”
Her parents were “extremely supportive” and raised her in a household that normalized her condition. “I was never told anything but the fact that I was beautiful. I was always uplifted and encouraged,” she says, while adding she found comfort in having a childhood best friend who also had a cleft lip and underwent the same surgery she did when she was 4. “We shared recovery rooms, so it was really special that I had that.”
Still, as she got older, Waller privately struggled with insecurities about her image. “It was just an internal struggle that I dealt with. I didn’t know how deep my insecurity ran.”
Waller made her debut in season 2 of the Netflix docuseries America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. She was the last person to be cut from training camp in 2024, yet the rejection was a silver lining. Having been eliminated from the team, she was able to focus on her health and recover from an eating disorder.
In this summer’s third season, Waller — who earned a spot on the Cowboys Cheerleaders in 2025 — opened up about the personal subject along with intimate details about her relationship with her smile.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
In the episode “Strong and Wrong,” Waller talks about embracing the scar on her lip before revealing how having a missing tooth impacted her self-worth during her youth.
“It was so embarrassing to me,” she recalls. “At that age, anything different about you is a bad thing.” She used Snapchat to photoshop a tooth on herself because, she explains, “I’d look in the mirror and be like, ‘Once I have a tooth, I will be beautiful.’”
Throughout her journey, Waller did eventually get “several different fake teeth,” but the cosmetic enhancements didn’t always give her desired results.
Her first dental prosthesis was attached to her braces until she was able to move onto wearing a wire retainer with a fake tooth, which she wore for around six months to a year. “I was probably 16 [at the time] so that insecurity was much heavier, but I didn’t have another option.”
Later, Waller progressed onto a wireless retainer. That was “the moment,” she says. “I was so happy to, for the first time in my life, see a full smile on myself, which was really special.”
Today, Waller wears a bridge that feels almost nonexistent, and which she will continue to wear until she is “ready” for an implant. “I am nervous about an implant because of the screw, but that’s why I’ve had the bone grafts in there. Right now, the bridge works, so I’m happy with it.”
Over the course of the last two years, Waller’s journey went from “heartbreak” to empowerment, and now more than ever she’s ready to inspire a new generation.
“I’ve gotten so many messages from people telling me that they’ve had a similar experience [with cleft lip]. Reading those messages, I get choked up every single time. It means so much to me that people resonate with my story and that I have this platform where I can be vulnerable and make someone feel seen. It’s a privilege.”
A part of Waller’s hope to raise awareness around cleft lip is supporting Operation Smile, a global nonprofit organization that provides free care to those living with the condition. This month, she earned veteran status by making the DCC 2026-2027 team and hopes to continue to spread a message of self-love. “Embrace your differences, love yourself wholeheartedly no matter what you look like.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, The Alliance for Eating Disorders provides a fully-staffed helpline at 1-866-662-1235, as well as free, therapist-led support groups.
Read the original article on People
