The Navy SEAL Commando who helped take down Osama Bin Laden has written a book about the mission and had to wear a disguise for his first TV interview. INSIDE EDITION has the story.
The world got their first glimpse of the Navy SEAL commando who helped take down Osama Bin Laden.
However, no one actually never saw his real appearance.
That's because the American hero's appearance was been disguised so thoroughly for his 60 Minutes interview, he actually looked nothing like he did when he stormed Bin Laden's compound in May of 2011.
60 Minutes' Scott Pelley, who saw him before the interview, did not recognize him after the makeup was applied.
Pelley said on CBS This Morning, "You would be astounded. It does not look anything like he looks like. We hired some of the best makeup people who do the big Hollywood movies. He walked on the set and shook my hand at the begining of the interview and I didn't recognize him."
INSIDE EDITION makeup artist Kelly Lynn Brown said they did a great job protecting his identity.
"It is clear they changed his hair, his nose, and his teeth. I think it is a great job because he looks like anyone on the street," said Brown.
The now-retired commando, who goes by the pseudonym "Mark Owen," could not appear on camera as he actually looks because he'd be a marked man for terrorists everywhere.
Owen said to Pelley, "They walked by, shook each of our hands and asked, 'Are you guys ready? Can you pull this off?' I am pretty sure, each of us, to a man said 'Yes.' This is nothing new to us. The only thing that was new was all the VIPs sitting there watching. We had a week off at home, conducted one more rehearsal training on the life-size mock-up and then we got the word that we were going."
Owen's explosive new book is called No Easy Day, about the daring raid. The book contradicts the White House's narrative that Bin Laden posed a threat to the commandos before he was shot.
Owen insists the book isn't politically motivated.
Owen said, "This book is not political whatsoever, [it] doesn't bad-mouth either party. We specificially chose September 11 to keep it out of the politics. These crazies on either side of the aisle want to make it political, shame on them."
The book was scheduled for release on September 11th, but has been moved up to next week because of further criticism.
Owen said, "This is a book about September 11 and it needs to rest on September 11, not be brought into the political arena. It had nothing to do with politics."
