Getting RealCelebrities’ Honest Quotes About Their Acne Struggles: Lili Reinhart, Keke Palmer and More

Lili Reinhart

“Since I was 12, I’ve struggled with acne. My skin has suffered consistent breakouts, hyperpigmentation, redness and scarring,” Lili shared on Instagram in October 2023. “I feel impassioned and motivated to find solutions for not only myself, but others who struggle as well. This is my skin now, makeup free… no filter. I can’t wait to share more about what I’ve been working on.”

This isn’t the first time she’s shared details about her struggles.

“My skin has caused me a lot of anxiety and sadness. I have a specific type of body dysmorphia that stems from acne,” Lili told Glamour in September 2018. “I see any acne on my face as an obsessive thing. [It’s] the only thing I can think about, and it makes me want to hide.”

Keke Palmer

In August 2022, Keke got real about her adult acne struggles in an Instagram video. “I was just thinking about the fact that plastic surgeons are amazing, OK? They can give you a boob job, above the muscle, under the muscle, liposuction, tummy tuck, BBL, they can even implant muscles, I mean, the list goes on,” Keke began.“But they cannot figure out how to clear up somebody’s skin? All these years and all these inventions, you can’t figure out how to take the beautiful skin from my a– and put it on my face?”

She continued, “I’m tired of it. I’m done with it. People out here with adult acne are struggling, and you haven’t figured out that cure? I’m done.”

That’s not the first time the Nope actress got real about acne! In December 2020, the Hustlers star showed fans her face without makeup via Instagram and revealed she was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome, which often causes acne as well as facial hair. At the time, Keke said her skin was “so bad that people in my field offered to pay for me to get it fixed. I tried EVERYTHING.”

Madelaine Petsch

The actress shouted out her “hormonal acne for not flaring up right before I shoot a movie” in a July 2022 Instagram Stories post.

Lucy Hale

“I think I’ve just accepted that I’ll deal with breakouts my whole life,” Lucy told Glamour. “It’s also important for all of us to realize that skin has texture. Skin has pores. Skin has zits. We don’t see that as much anymore because we’re all on our phones, and we’re seeing all these filters and gorgeous people, and so it’s hard for us to remember that it’s OK to have skin that looks like skin.”

When sharing her skincare routine, the actress told Byrdie in 2019 that her “skin just went nuts” ahead of her 21st birthday.

Maude Apatow

The actress told Vogue in February 2022 that she had “gigantic zits.”

“You couldn’t cover them, they were so big. … They stuck out and we tried [to hide them],” she added. “When I started working and wearing more makeup, my skin got a lot worse.”

The HBO star also shared what she’s learned along the way.

“I definitely learned not to pick my skin because it spreads,” she shared. “I never believed that when people told me that. Then I learned that if I pop zits, they travel.” 

Charli D’Amelio

In a February 2021 Instagram Stories post, the TikTok star got real about her acne struggles.

“Even though you see me all done up most of the time and usually having mostly clear skin I still have to deal with acne,” she wrote, per Just Jared Jr. “I am a teenager so whether it is stress or my period it is completely normal to not have perfect skin and I wanted to show you that side of things instead of the picture perfect times only.”

Emma Chamberlain

The YouTube star explained why she’s always been open about her acne struggles while chatting with POPSUGAR in December 2020.

“I’ve always been really open about acne, and period problems, and my mental health, and all of that … That’s always been really easy for me to talk about. I don’t exactly know why, [it] probably leads back to something with my childhood that went right,” she said. “I have always felt really comfortable sharing those things because I feel really good when somebody else can relate and when they connect, and that’s something that helps keep me going.”

Ethan Dolan

Throughout 2020, the YouTube star uploaded a series of videos and got real about his “severe” acne. In one candid Instagram post, Ethan talked about overcoming his insecurities because of pimples.

“I had severe acne, now my face is filled with scars and I can’t seem to be upset about it anymore,” he wrote in July 2020. “At first, my acne completely destroyed my self-confidence. I’ve always been an advocate of embracing your appearance no matter what. I found myself giving advice to friends when they struggled with their self-image. I was always so happy to hear that my words helped. If these were my own words, and they had proven to help others … why couldn’t they help me? I couldn’t seem to take my own advice.”

Ethan continued, “What was going on with my skin was natural and unavoidable, but I couldn’t accept it.”

Bella Thorne

In May 2020, the actress shared her acne journey with fans via Instagram Stories and wrote, “No makeup. Good morning I’m so proud of my skin and how far we have come.”

Justin and Hailey Bieber

During an episode of their Facebook Watch series, The Biebers, in May 2020, the couple talked about dealing with adult acne.

“It definitely bugs me. I wear a hat a lot more, which then probably makes it worse but I mean who likes acne? It’s the worst,” Justin said. “It’s the worst for your self-confidence because, like, you know, especially because all of these filters on Instagram, you know, people are like looking perfect with their skin and you feel like that’s reality. But in reality, a lot of people probably have bad skin.”

Hailey, for her part, said the blemishes on her “forehead” stemmed from her birth control.

Kendall Jenner

The model spoke about her acne on her now-defunct app in 2018.

“Where it really impacted me was how self-conscious I became about it. It completely ruined my self-esteem. I wouldn’t even look at people when I talked to them,” she wrote at the time. “I felt like such an outcast. When I spoke, it was with my hand covering my face. Sure, I had crushes in high school, but I wouldn’t even think about looking at guys.”

Selena Gomez

During a 2016 interview with Allure, Selena said her “chin gets it the worst.”

Zendaya

“My hormonal breakouts popping up every month unwelcome, just when I think I got my skin on lock,” the former Disney Channel star tweeted in 2018.

Shay Mitchell

“Your body is changing and your hormones are fluctuating. I know it’s hard but I always try to tell people to remember that everyone goes through it,” she told fans while chatting with The Healthy in 2017. “With the weather change and the stress of being on a new show, I definitely had acne when I came to LA.”

Camila Cabello

In 2018, Camila talked exclusively to J-14 about her skin struggles.

“I didn’t realize how much having bad skin plays into your self-confidence until I experienced it a couple of years ago,” she said at the time. “I’d go to bed and worry all night about what my face would look like in the morning, because I couldn’t stop breaking out! It was awful, and made me not always like how I looked.”

The singer continued, “I ended up building a bubble and focusing on myself during that time. I would tell myself that I was beautiful and the more I said it, the more I believed it.”