Acne is something everybody gets, and yet it's rarely talked about [1]. That's why when celebrities get real [2] about their skin, sharing both the good and the "bad," we take notice. Whether you get the occasional hormonal breakout once or twice a month or you have an acneic skin type, there's comfort in knowing you're not alone in your breakouts.
Over the years, celebrities like Kendall Jenner, Keke Palmer, Barbie Ferreira, Emma Chamberlain [3], and more have opened up about their pimples. Ferreira told POPSUGAR about her experience with the producers of Euphoria [4] wanting to emphasise her acne in the teen drama series. "For the first few episodes, I was breaking out — I usually break out on my cheek in a very specific area — but nobody did anything specifically to get rid of pimples," Ferreira said. "We were like, 'We're playing teenagers, teenagers break out, what's the big deal?'"
Palmer, on the other hand, has taken to Instagram a number of times to talk about her PCOS-related acne [5] with an important message: "To all the people struggling with this please know you're not alone and that you are still so f*cking fine!" In a similar fashion, Chamberlain told POPSUGAR about her journey with acne and, now that she's on the other side of it, how it taught her "to feel comfortable within myself with good or bad skin."
This is all to say that everybody — even A-lister celebrities — get breakouts, and such a normal occurrence isn't anything to be ashamed of. See for yourself ahead.
Emma Chamberlain's Journey With Acne
In an interview with POPSUGAR [6], Chamberlain talked about her tumultuous journey with acne. Having come out on the other side of it, she said, "I fully understand that no matter what anybody says it's really, really tough and there's nothing that anybody can say or do to make it any easier. It would be, in a way, punching my younger self in the face to be like, 'Oh, having acne, well, it goes away one day. You'll be OK.' No, it's one of the most difficult things I've personally ever dealt with self-esteem-wise and just in general, in life."
She added: "That journey was so important because it taught me how to feel comfortable within myself with good or bad skin. Once you either grow out of your acne or you find a way to remedy it, no matter what your journey ends up being, there's something so empowering about coming out the other side. People who have dealt with acne can f*cking do anything."
Keke Palmer's Journey With Acne
Palmer has given her followers a close-up look at her journey with PCOS-related acne. On Instagram, she said, "Poly Cystic Ovarian syndrome has been attacking me from the inside out my entire life and I had no idea. My acne has been so bad that people in my field offered to pay for me to get it fixed. I tried EVERYTHING. I did Accutane TWICE."
After detailing the specifics of her own diagnosis, Palmer said, "To all the people struggling with this please know you're not alone and that you are still so f*cking fine! MY ACNE AINT NEVER STOPPED ME. But we don't have accept this. Now I can really help KEKE! And I love her so it's ON."
Lucy Hale's Journey With Acne
Hale loves to experiment with her hair and makeup, but she's not immune to pimples. She revealed in an interview with Byrdie [7], "The day I turned 21, my skin just went nuts."
Marsai Martin's Journey With Acne
Having grown up in the spotlight, Martin has never been afraid to show all sides of being a teenager — including spots. In her Instagram Story, Martin "welcomed" a new spot [8] to her forehead by zooming in on it with an upside-down smiley face. This simple action showed that breakouts are nothing to be ashamed of.
Lorde's Journey With Acne
Lorde [9] jumped on her Instagram Story to chat about her personal experience [10] with acne in the most relatable way — while laying in bed like a late-night chat with a BFF. She began by saying, "For real though, acne sucks. You know what also sucks? When you've had acne for years and years and years. She then went on to say, "for anyone out there who's got bad skin . . . I feel your pain, we'll get there, we will. I promise."
Barbie Ferreira's Journey With Acne
Euphoria [11] follows a group of teenagers in high school, which is why when Ferreira showed up to set one day with a few spots, the producers decided to emphasise it.
"For the first few episodes, I was breaking out — I usually break out on my cheek in a very specific area — but nobody did anything specifically to get rid of pimples," Ferreira told POPSUGAR in an interview [12]. "We were like, 'We're playing teenagers, teenagers break out, what's the big deal? [The show's makeup artists] would actually add red to it to make it more textured because they wanted to really show it. For three episodes, I had my temples accentuated, with a little more red gooeyness to it, you know? We wanted it to be realistic even within this unrealistic space of a really cool teen fiction show. It was all grounded in so much reality."
Kendall Jenner's Journey With Acne
While Jenner seemingly has clear skin now, the model has dealt with acne on and off for years. In an Instagram ad for ProactivMD, she said, "Suffering from acne for me was debilitating. [13] It's something that I've dealt with since I was a young teen and has caused me to feel anxious, helpless, and insecure. As humans, I don't think we share our insecurities enough because we live in a time where being 'perfect' is the standard. We curate our life online and pick the pretty moments to post. I'd like to show a younger generation that not everything is perfect."
Taylor Hill's Journey With Acne
Hill often shares glimpses into her off-duty model life on Instagram with her followers, including makeup-free selfies. "I struggle with acne and I've struggled for a long time, probably since I was 15, because of makeup, travel, and hormones," she told Allure [14] in an interview.
Emma Stone's Journey With Acne
In an interview with Refinery29 [15], Stone said, "I had bad hormonal acne when I was 17, and they put me on Accutane for it. Then, I had stress acne when I was 20, when I did Easy A, which they kindly video-airbrushed out of the movie. But I realised how debilitating and embarrassing it can be to have cystic acne."
Jurnee Smollett's Journey With Acne
Smollett is years out of her acne journey now, but she told POPSUGAR in an interview, "I was shooting Friday Night Lights in Austin, and with the humidity, the great Texas food, the hormones, and the stress of me planning a wedding, my skin was freaking out."
Kaley Cuoco's Journey With Acne
Even though Cuoco is known for her lighthearted humour, she's not afraid to talk about more serious topics, like her bout of acne when she was younger. "I had acne as a teen and it made me so insecure to be on camera — not a good thing when you are on a television series," she told POPSUGAR.
Katy Perry's Journey With Acne
Perry prides herself on being an open book, whether it's about body hair, acne, or her relationship with makeup as a whole. "I have acne scars," she told Cosmopolitan [16]. "I'm self-conscious about that."
