5 Celebrities With Psoriasis

There are 7 million Americans and 2 million Brits living with psoriasis. As much as we sometimes feel alone, that's really a large percentage of the population struggling with just one skin condition.

And it seems even celebs can't disguise their skin problems forever. More and more well known faces are speaking up about their struggle with psoriasis. Is this good news? Regardless of your opinion on these celebs as individuals, I certainly think them highlighting the condition and facts about it can only be a good thing. Here's what 5 famous faces had to say about their struggle;

KELLY BENSIMON

Kelly Bensimon says she’s dealt with psoriasis her entire life, and the condition made her “scared” to bare all for her 2010 Playboy shoot.

The former Real Housewives of New York City star and model tweeted about her psoriasis on Friday as she was getting ready for a new photoshoot.

“I’ve had psoriasis since I was a kid. I hated it. I found it so embarrassing,” Bensimon, 49, writes on Twitter. “When I was a teen, I would spend hours in tanning beds, trying to get dark enough to cover it up. Not healthy! And not something I would recommend to anyone! But I was desperate. I thought that I couldn’t be pretty with this issue.”

She ended up becoming a successful model, but Bensimon says even then she doubted herself — up until age 41, when she posed for Playboy.

“Even as an adult, especially when I was modeling, I felt terrible about my skin. When I had a breakout, I wanted to hide from the world,” she says. “So, when Playboy asked me to bare it all, there was a part of me that was scared — not because of the nudity, but because of the psoriasis!”

KIM KARDASHIAN & KYLIE JENNER

In a recent episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, the youngest of the clan Kylie Jenner discovered she’s suffering from psoriasis.

Like her sister Kim Kardashian and mum Kris Jenner, who both also suffer, she noticed the itchy, scaly patches on her body.

Kim was first diagnosed with autoimmune disease psoriasis in 2010 when she visited a dermatologist during an episode of 'Keeping Up with the Kardashians'. 

On her app last year she wrote: 'Everyone with psoriasis has different symptoms; sometimes the rashes are itchy, sometimes they're flaky. Mine flares up from time to time for different reasons.

'I'm always hoping for a cure, of course, but in the meantime, I'm learning to just accept it as part of who I am.' 

'Sometimes I just feel like it's my big flaw and everyone knows about it, so why cover it?' 

JESS WRIGHT - only way is essex (UK)

Reality star Jess Wright spoke out about suffering from psoriasis last year. 

The 28-year-old revealed how it feels to live with the chronic disease and how it made her feel "lonely and isolated". 

"Psoriasis doesn't just affect the way you look physically; it also has a huge emotional impact. But I've realised that it's not the end of the world and living with psoriasis doesn't have to hold anyone back."

CariDee English

Winner of America's Next Top Model 2006 explains how she struggled coming to terms with her skin from an early age;

"I was about 5 years old and I was driving in my mom's car. I remember specifically looking at my leg and I saw that something there. I asked my mom what it was and she knew all too well exactly what had started to manifest on my body -- she had psoriasis, too. The moment I hit 12, it flared up really badly and it never let up since."

"It was really difficult. As a kid, sometimes I would just brush it off to someone I didn't know like, 'Oh, it's poison ivy.' I was really ashamed of it. I was convinced that I was one of the only people in the world that had it."

LeAnn Rimes

Singer LeAnn Rimes wants her battle with psoriasis to inspire hope in others;

"I've actually been very quiet about having psoriasis. I've had it since I was two and it's always been a huge burden and something that I've battled and still battle. I hid it my whole life. I pretty much got it under control by finding the right dermatologist and right treatment in the last five years. By finally getting control over it instead of it having control over me, I wanted to speak out and let people know that there is hope. There are 7 million Americans living with psoriasis and a lot of them are not getting treatment because they think it's just a rash, when it's really a chronic skin disease that's been linked to medical conditions like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity and depression."

"Trying to manage my stress is huge. It doesn't come easy. I'm doing yoga, taking care of my body by working out and eating right. I've cut fatty, fried food completely out of my diet. I'm pretty much gluten free now too. I'm constantly applying lotion and drinking water to keep my skin hydrated."

YOUR THOUGHTS?

What do you think? Is it a good thing that these celebs are speaking up about their skin?