These Celebs Show Off And Talk About Their Psoriasis Flare-Ups To Help Normalize The Skin Condition
Psoriasis is often a misunderstood skin disease. Though it has many forms, the autoimmune condition typically produces flaky, red, scabby plaques on the body and scalp as a result of a person’s immune system attacking their healthy skin cells. It can lead to other health issues like diabetes, arthritis, and depression. Sometimes, people mistake it for other skin conditions and believe it to be contagious—but it's not. Psoriasis is actually super common, affecting more than 7 million people in the U.S.
In order to help combat all the stereotypes and misconceptions about the condition, some celebrities have been vocal about their diagnosis. Here's what these famous women and men have had to say about living with psoriasis.
Kim had her first psoriasis flare when she was 25. Since then, she has been extremely open with her followers about the autoimmune disease.
In 2018, she posted on Twitter that she was seeking medication for psoriasis because it had spread to her whole body, including her face. She even penned an essay about it for her sister Kourtney’s website, Poosh.
She talked about how it developed into psoriatic arthritis. “I woke up that morning and I still couldn’t pick up my phone. I was freaking out—I couldn’t even pick up a toothbrush, my hands hurt so badly,” she said.
Psoriasis is often genetic, so it’s not a surprise that Kim’s mom, Kris Jenner, has it too. Kris was diagnosed at 30.
When Kim discussed her battle, she shared part of her mom’s: “My journey has been very different from my mom’s, but I see so many similarities as well. She had it in her scalp and all over her body, and I’d see it all the time. I am the only child my mom passed down her autoimmune issue to.”
Actress and supermodel Cara Delevingne experienced her first flare during Fashion Week 2013 and continues to have stress-induced ones. “It only happened during Fashion Week!” Delevingne told W magazine. “Which is, of course, the worst time of the year for me to be covered in scabs.” Her friend Kate Moss got her an appointment with a dermatologist where she was diagnosed.
But people’s notions about psoriasis still affect her: “'People would put on gloves and not want to touch me because they thought it was, like, leprosy or something ... It wasn't a good time, I was, like, fight and flight for months. Just constantly on edge. It is a mental thing as well because if you hate yourself and your body and the way you look, it just gets worse and worse."
In June 2018, Jonathan revealed he was flare-free for six months, which he attributes to journaling. Jonathan also used a dermatologist-prescribed steroid cream.
Along with drinking plenty of water and eating healthy, La La uses a common baking ingredient to manage her psoriasis: baking soda.
“It is just gentle enough on my sensitive skin, which is really hard to find when you do have psoriasis,” she told People. “It does have to be gentle enough that you feel your skin is smooth afterwards.”
Most people develop psoriasis between the ages of 15 and 35, but Cyndi Lauper discovered hers in her 50s. In 2015, she opened up about her psoriasis, which was debilitating at its worst.
Cyndi’s started at the scalp, which she managed with shampoo for a while. Then it spread to her whole body, leaving her bed ridden for days at a time. "I had to work. So I stopped that ... This was the heartbreak," she said. "I was about the go on tour with Cher for the Kinky Boots build-up. It was really difficult because you are very sick and you're trying to work. And yet, everything you are wearing now is a turtleneck."
To treat the psoriasis, Cyndi eventually turned to a regimented medication to treat her immune system after she lost her voice. Cyndi even used music to cope with her psoriasis. She officially released the song “Hope” about her struggle in 2019.
America’s Next Top Model winner CariDee English learned she had plaque psoriasis, which she inherited from her mom, when she was 5. By the time she was 12, the psoriasis covered 70 percent of her body.
Despite her psoriasis, she wanted to be a model, but it wasn’t easy. “At 17, I joined a modeling agency, hiding my psoriasis behind layers and layers of makeup all over my body,” she wrote for Health. “But during one photo shoot by the ocean, the makeup washed off. The agency fired me.”
CariDee talked to her dermatologist before she auditioned for America’s Next Top Model and started taking injections. Unfortunately, those shots became discontinued. She became a spokesperson for Stelara, an immunosuppressive treatment for psoriasis, in 2009.
Now she uses her platform to document her journey with psoriasis to her 82,000 Instagram followers.
On the flip side, country music star LeAnn Rimes was diagnosed with psoriasis at age 2. LeAnn told Shape that she hid the chronic disorder for years.
She didn’t open up about her battle until she got it under control and felt confident, which she achieved “by taking care of myself and realizing I have control over what goes in my body,” she said. “Really educating myself about my disease and how to manage it. As you get older, you realize it's just skin. If you're not going to love me because of what you're looking at, then you have issues with you, not with me. I know I have a lot more to offer.”
LeAnn has done a lot to manage her stress, including yoga and going to the gym. She also cut fatty, fried food from her diet, went nearly gluten-free, and drinks water to keep her skin hydrated.
But when it comes right down to it, she said the best way to treat psoriasis is by finding a good dermatologist. "Psoriasis affects people both physically and emotionally," she said. "I encourage everyone with psoriasis to see a doctor. Find a treatment plan that works for you. If you are feeling isolated, reach out and ask someone for help. Remember, you're not alone."
Fashion stylist Stacy London found out she had psoriasis at 4. The disease worsened, and when she was 11, she missed most of sixth grade due to bullying-induced panic attacks.
“Even that was a tricky diagnosis. There was a lot of confusion, a lot of fear,” she told Healthline. “At that point, I felt really ashamed at the way I looked."
She also talked about having "bad experiences with children at school who didn’t know anything about the disease," she recalled. "It definitely reminded me that I was different and that something was wrong with me.”
Stacy uses personal fashion as a weapon against psoriasis. She spent most of her childhood covering it up, but now she’s not afraid to show some skin.
“We want people to have more control over feeling they’re looking relevant or stylish," she told Healthline. “When you make an effort to make yourself into a whole package and having a hand in that, having control with a disease that you can’t always control, I think that evens the balance.”
Former Vanderpump Rules cast member Stassi Schroeder uses her Instagram to embrace her psoriasis, especially during quarantine.
"The advice I would give to anyone who has psoriasis is to let go of any anxiety about it because there's nothing you can do," Stassi told Today. "If you stress about it, it's only going to make it worse because it's brought on by stress a lot of the time. And what's the point? You're just going to be miserable."
Dara was training for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics when she discovered she has psoriasis. She noticed persistent flaky, red patches on her elbows but brushed it off as a result of the chlorine.
When they started popping up in other places, she decided to see a doctor. “At first, I was horribly embarrassed by my symptoms, especially since I couldn’t really hide them,” she wrote for Health. “After all, my work suit is my swimsuit! My body is completely exposed, except for whatever that little piece of clothing covers. And since the chlorine made my patches worse, I felt especially self-conscious whenever I had to jump in the pool—which was pretty much every day.”
Psoriasis affected Dara mentally and emotionally, as it does many people. But when she *stopped* caring what other people thought, her skin condition started to get better. “As soon as I made that decision to stop caring, my whole life changed, and I started to feel like myself again,” she said.
Because she couldn’t cut chlorine out of her life, she turned to managing her stress levels—another one of her triggers.
Unforgettable actress La La Anthony discovered her psoriasis 15 years ago. It started on her scalp, but she developed it in other places as well.
“Never really being able to time when the flare-ups happen is hard because a lot of that is out of your control,” she told Everyday Health. “A lot of it is triggered by stress, certain foods, or anxiety, but it's not like you can necessarily control when you're going to be stressed about something. So it's just about understanding what it is and managing it when it happens.”
Katie Lowes noticed her psoriasis during a happy but stressful time in her life. She was 28 and just landed her role as Quinn on Scandal and was engaged.
At that time, scaly, red patches appeared on her neck, causing her to shy away from wearing a bathing suit and going on romantic vacations with her husband. “I felt embarrassment and shame, and I wanted to hide,” she said. “I spent six months living in denial. I self-medicated, even as my psoriasis grew and changed.”
Because her diet and stress were causing her flares, Katie removed sugar from her diet and started doing yoga and pilates. “Not only have I felt less stress, I feel so good! So many people have reached out to me on a daily basis—people with psoriasis, and people with family or friends with psoriasis. I don’t feel alone. No one should.”
Former Miss California Mabelynn Capeluj opened up about her psoriasis before competing in the 2013 Miss USA pageant. She was diagnosed with psoriasis at 16 after she dyed her hair black and noticed flaking. Then she developed what she thought was a rash until her aunt told her psoriasis ran in the family.
“I was bullied a lot in middle school and high school for being ugly or too skinny. When I got psoriasis they would pick on me for that,” she told Everyday Health. “They would ask me what was wrong, what’s that around my eyes, and they would laugh at me. It was just very embarrassing and awkward. I would come home crying.”
Mabelynn tried eating healthier, applying lotions, and using shampoo—but nothing worked as well as getting sunlight.
“Once I figured out how to treat my psoriasis with the sunlight, and it started to clear up, I started taking better care of myself,” she said. “I started to eat healthier, not being as stressed, being out in the sun, and being active outside with my little brothers.”
TV host and fashion blogger Louise Roe found out she had plaque psoriasis at 25. She told Healthline that it took a toll on her emotionally and physically.
“Being in the fashion industry, I think I was more conscious of how I looked and represented myself,” she said. “I was at an impressionable age too, and being a young woman living in London [made it hard]. It wasn’t a fun time at all.”
Louise admits it took a while to get her confidence back, but she has appreciated the journey.
In 2011, actor Jon Lovitz penned an essay in The Huffington Post about his battle with psoriasis. At the time, he had had it for 10 years.
It started as red spots on his arms that eventually covered half of his body. He didn’t feel comfortable in certain situations, but he used humor to cope. “Just the thought of how people would react made me dread leaving my house at times. Thank goodness I’m funny (and good looking, have I mentioned that yet?) because I often relied on my humor to get me through those hard times,” Lovitz said.
What helped him was finding a dermatologist who specialized in psoriasis.
Eli Roth used his struggles with psoriasis as inspiration for his 2002 horror film Cabin Fever. (The film involves a man with a flesh-eating skin condition.)
“When I was 22, I had this horrible psoriasis outbreak. ... When I was 19 I had this infection on my face. When I shaved I shaved off chunks of my face. I realised this would be a great idea for a horror movie,” Eli said at the time.
In his autobiography, Art Garfunkel of Simon and Garfunkel wrote a poem about his psoriasis. On a trip to Tel Aviv, Israel, the crooner floated in the Dead Sea because he was told it would help his psoriasis.
Some celebs have shared strange stories about their psoriasis, like Oasis singer Liam Gallagher who had an interaction with fans at Glastonbury when they thought his psoriasis dandruff was cocaine.
“I got psoriasis, so I had obviously been scratching it during the day and that, and there were little white bits and shit,” he said. “They were taking it out of my hair and putting it on their gums and putting it up their fucking nose. I went like, ‘Okay…'” Oof!
Actress Ciena Rae Nelson uses her social media to bring awareness to psoriasis. “Skin conditions are not cosmetic issues,” she wrote. “They cause physical pain and suffering and oftentimes a feeling of being trapped in your own body, on top of the social anxiety many people face because of them.”
Phil Mickelson’s psoriasis progressed into psoriatic arthritis, which can be difficult to manage when you’re a pro golfer.
To help him get back on the course, Phil uses anti-inflammatory medication as prescribed by his doctor. And when it worked, he felt good: "This is the best energy I've had throughout the round and the best focus. My short game has been very disappointing and I haven't been able to visualize the shot I've been trying to hit.”
These Celebs Show Off And Talk About Their Psoriasis Flare-Ups To Help Normalize The Skin Condition
Psoriasis is often a misunderstood skin disease. Though it has many forms, the autoimmune condition typically produces flaky, red, scabby plaques on the body and scalp as a result of a person’s immune system attacking their healthy skin cells. It can lead to other health issues like diabetes, arthritis, and depression. Sometimes, people mistake it for other skin conditions and believe it to be contagious—but it's not. Psoriasis is actually super common, affecting more than 7 million people in the U.S.
In order to help combat all the stereotypes and misconceptions about the condition, some celebrities have been vocal about their diagnosis. Here's what these famous women and men have had to say about living with psoriasis.
Kim Kardashian, Cara Delevingne, La La Anthony, and more.
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