Disney alum Bella Thorne has had no problem sharing details of her personal life – be it a run-in with a Hollywood “mean girl” or her struggles with dyslexia. Heck, she even Snapchatted videos from her colonoscopy on Monday. Now the 18-year-old actress is talking about her skin problems. See, celebrities are just like us… sometimes.
Bella, as part of her work for Burt’s Bees’ “Love Your Nature” campaign, sat down with Popsugar’s Pretty Unfiltered web series to talk about her issues with dermatitis, which she developed during the filming of Amityville Horror. She blames the condition, which looks on the surface like acne, on makeup artists on set who used dirty makeup brushes on her face. Eww. Bella also talked about her new IDGAF perspective on life in the social media age. You can watch the whole interview here:
If you don’t have 8 minutes to watch the whole video, here are some of the highlights:
On the negative stereotypes about acne: “You go out and people think you’re dirty, that you’re, like, disgusting. That you must not take care of yourself because you’re uncleanly because you have acne. But really it’s something that everybody f*cking gets!”
On loving the skin she’s in: “Recently, my sister…we both struggle with trying to get acne taken care of. I was like, ‘Look at this pimple! I have a press day tomorrow, how did this just happen to me?’ and Dani was like, ‘That is a beautiful pimple, Bella. Your face is beautiful. You have beautiful skin. You love your face.’”
Haters gonna hate, and Bella doesn’t care: “In the past three to four months, I’ve really changed. I’ve really become a very different person. I’m really happy I’ve grown into who I’m becoming now and who I will become. And I kinda just changed my whole opinion, which was ‘I don’t give a f*ck.’ I don’t care. You wanna trash me? I don’t care!”
[From Popsugar/Pretty Unfiltered]
Bella also told Popsugar that, as part of her new attitude, she has no problems going out without makeup and posting makeup-free selfies on Instagram. Here’s one from her recent colonoscopy.
I admire Bella’s candor, but it’s hard for me, as a 40-something woman who still has acne – on top of lots of other imperfections – to completely relate with her struggles. Let’s face it, acne on her is like a teeny scratch on an expensive sports car. But, hey, I appreciate that she’s spreading such a positive message to her peers.
Photo credit: Getty Images, WENN.com, Fame Flynet
She posted a selfie from her colonoscopy? That sound you hear is Kim K throwing her phone across the room and screaming ” I wanted to be the first to do that!”
Why would someone her age get one?
What does age have to do with it?
It must not be routine for a teenager, but if she has a family history that bears watching or some medical issues where they want to have a closer look at the colon to see if there is visible damage or other irregularities- then it would make sense.
We typically think of only older adults having colonoscopies to screen for colon cancer, but there are a number of medical conditions that would require a younger person to have a colonoscopy. It’s used to diagnose Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis, just to name a couple.
I had one at her age, for GI issues that my doc couldn’t seem to figure out.
I had one at age 8. Age really has nothing to do with it if you’re having digestive issues.
My 10 month old son had 2 to diagnose ulcerative colitis but there is usually a medical reason they are doing it in younger people as opposed to routine screening when older
I had one at age 30. It sucked lol.
I would tune into KuWtK to see Kim throw a straight-up tantrum, throwing things and screaming. I want to see how her face manages emotion. Not sure I’ve ever seen it.
I had a colonoscopy a month ago, and my nurse was all upset that they lost the picture of my polyp. Seriously. She was falling all over herself apologizing. Like I wanted a picture of that? My only worry was where it would turn up and if it had my name on it.
LOL.
I’m sure it was a lovely polyp.
On Facebook. Its where everything seems to end up these days.
Facebook?!? 😱
Your polyp is actually my new FB profile pic.
I wanted to surprise you but now everything’s ruined.
I feel for her struggles but I can’t really see anything that looks like acne in any of the pics?
I agree.
It just kind of looks like fairly typical 18 year old skin troubles, a bit of uneven skin tone here and there, the odd spot.
Acne is *awful*, so very different to teenage skin flare-ups. It’s painful, difficult to cover, and has very little to do with dirty make-up brushes or hygiene regimes.
Yeah it’s like Kendall Jenner saying she had “really bad acne” and you look at pics and think: Where?
Sure, pimples, but full-blown acne? Nah.
If you watch much older episodes of KUWTK, Kendall had truly terrible, awful skin. You can still see it sometimes in pap photos. I have adult cystic acne (one or two at a time, all the time) and it’s embarrassing. I used to joke that people would give me bad service because I looked like I had meth face. Now, after lots of retinol, soothing topicals and oral hormonal medication, I finally feel like a regular person.
I’ve been struggling to get my hormonal acne under control for a year. It cleared up for a few months with medication and retinol, but then gave me the finger and came back with a vengeance. It is embarrassing. I’m 37 years old! the joys of getting older…
I am 41 and have been struggling with acne since I was 15 years old.
Ummmmm wtaf?
Recently I decided id finally had enough and booked an appointment with a dermatologist.
I found out I have VERY high estrogen levels which makes me suuuuuuuper fertile and look suuuuuper young (have no wrinkles and I still get asked for Id)
My gf who is the same age has FLAWLESS skin but also very lined….
Soooo…Ill take the acne I guess…
After suffering from acne for 18 years I’d take a wrinkle here and there over lots of red, disgusting and hurting pimples on my face any day.
Nooooo…. I keep holding out on the concept of “it’ll go away… it’ll go away”.
I’m 26. Still have awful acne.
Erin, if it’s on your cheeks and chin, it is hormonal. No topical can treat hormonal acne, but there is hope. There’s Retin-a that can be quite harsh. I like Salicylic acid, sulfur is helpful. I have had to learn to love my skin no matter what, but I also am an ingredient hound. Figuring what ingredients clog is a great help.
It may go away. Everyone’s skin is a bit different. I’m in my 40s and it still hasn’t. The nurse at my dermatologist is in her 60s – she has flawless skin by the way – and she says she still gets cystic pimples. But she just gets cortisone injections on her cystic acne right as they are forming and they go away pretty quickly. She has no scars. Damn her!
At the end I had it on my cheeks, chin and neck. There was nothing to be seen in blood tests and no medication worked. So I gave up on the meds, and later on wheat and refined sugar (dairy I did not consume for years already, I’m vegan). I also stopped touching my face and only used loose powder instead if makeup. After a year or so my skin suddenly got better. I was 29 when it stopped. I still have oily skin with big pores but I did not have any breakouts since then. My mom had it until she was 40. In her case it was hormonal.
At 42 I was still suffering with acne so I decided to consult a dermatologist as well. It was the best thing I ever did. After having a wicked bout of hormonal cystic acne where my pimples literally had pimples I was left with horrible skin. While I wasn’t breaking out anymore it was glad to get a professional to look at it and have a clear plan. My skin is much much better now.
Is it just me or does she look completely different from how she did some weeks ago?
Not just you. I didn’t even recognize her, and I watched plenty of episodes of Shake It Up.
Maybe it’s natural growth. Or maybe she’s lost weight? Maybe different hair color? Makeup? Except she’s different in the hospital pic, too.
She’s had work done on her face in the past, right? Maybe it’s more of the same.
She completely redid her face between 16 and 18, so it wouldn’t surprise me if she’s had more work done. It’s a shame, because she was really cute before all the plastic surgery. It wasn’t needed at all.
I think she recently had a nose job. I follow her on Insta/Snapchat and her nose has been looking a little different to me.
Yeah, she has…. plus she gets those lips plumped up. And in her “makeup free” colonoscopy selfie she obviously has eyelash extensions. I feel like that’s not setting a good precedent for young people.
OMG, I got eyelash extensions recently, and they are a pain in the behind!! Not sure I’d do them again, but they definitely look amazing and change your face. I hardly wear makeup now.
@ Val
How does that work and how are they a pain? I want to try it, but it’s expensive! Can you fill me in? Thanks 🙂
Disclaimer: a friend of mine who is a makeup artist did them (for free). She was sort of a beginner at it (though I’ve received many compliments on how well they were done), so I’m not sure how it works with really experienced aestheticians.
Anyway, firstly it lasted over two hours for her to get them on, which is normal, but also really uncomfortable and I couldn’t wait to get out of there.
Secondly, they are HARD. As in I can really feel the difference between my soft, regular eyelashes and these plasticky-feeling thingies.
I’m just gonna go into bullet points from here ,lol
– You can’t use oil (or anything oily) near your eyes because it might dissolve the glue (each fake eyelash is glued to your natural one)
– You have to specially clean them (I use micellar water, though I read online that people use baby shampoo), and yet I feel like they’re never properly clean. It’s like gunk gets stuck between your eyelid and natural lash and the extension. Yuck.
– You can’t rub your eyes
– If I press my eyes shut, the extensions poke me. Ow.
– They also don’t stay put, some move around and I’ve had a few that flipped around (so instead of pointing up like so /), the eyelash sits weirdly like (/ or even sideways -_-
– A month after getting them my eyelids started itching like crazy, dermatologist said it was a small allergic reaction
– When they get wet you can’t just rub them dry (as you would your eyes) you have to pat them, otherwise the water just sits there
– I never forget I have them, and I think they may be making my eyes tired more quickly
– They look and sit perfectly on my left eye, but on my right eye one of them points sort of downward, and another one is way out to the side, lol, and I’ve also lost more lashes on the right side. It looks uneven and makes my face even more asymmetrical than it is!
That being said, yeah they look great, and if you find the right person to do them and help with maintenance, then I think it’s worth it (my friend lives in another country so I didn’t have that added help).
If I had $300 to spend, yeah I would do it again… but I would make sure the lashes were super soft and high quality.
Hope this was informative! (and not too whiny lol) 🙂
(also, omg this turned out way longer than I thought, sorry for the wall of text!)
I only know her from her bi-weekly ‘candid’ pictures in the Daily Mail. What happened to this girl that made her so desperate for attention? She honestly disturbs me a little.
Me too! I’ve been side-eying her for months. Her nose, lips and chest all look incredibly different from just a couple of years ago, she seems incredibly self-obsessed (even more so than your average Disney kid), and supposedly there are a ton of sketchy rumors about her around Tumblr. They dub her “Lilo-in-training”, which is intriguing…
Ooh what are the rumors?
She’s been like that since she was a young teen on the Disney channel.
That said, I met her a few months ago and found her incredibly sweet and gracious. She was very kind to my stepdaughter, who was starstruck by her.
Oh, I didn’t mean to imply that she was a bad person or anything. I just really wonder about her. She’s so young and already seems so desperate.
But that’s sad 🙁 I think she’s got some issues, with all the plastic surgery at such a young age, this girl really gives me the sads
I think it’s sad, too. It must be incredibly difficult to grow up with all the expectations of Hollywood and fame. It seems like it destroys so many young people’s sense of self and self-worth.
1. She’s 18???
2. If someone came at me with a dirty makeup tool, I’d cut them. But that doesn’t give you acne. It can break you out for a while but it doesn’t give you acne.
3. Skin struggles suck so much, I feel for everyone who deals with them. I’ve been worshipping at the altar of Caroline Hirons for 3 years now and my skin look bomb. Finally.
Acne struggles are real, I had some pretty traumatic years when I was in high school. My teen boys are going through it now. Antibiotics finally worked for me when I was their age. They are taking antibiotics with ok results. The derm said the next step would be the “big gun,” Accutane, but I’m hesitant especially with my one son who also struggles with anxiety and depression. Apparently Accutane, among other side effects, can have psychiatric side effects.
My brother went on Accutane out of sheer desperation in his late teens and it worked, but also made him quite depressed. And this is a guy with ZERO issues with depression.
I’ve been dealing with acne for decades now (not just the occasional little breakout, full on acne) and people can be so annoying about it. A lot of people with good skin really do seem to think all I need to do to have perfect skin is wash my face better and stop eating chocolate. Even some doctors I’ve been to have given me a friggin pamphlet detailing the incredibly simple process of washing my face…it’s so insulting. And all the suggestions…I pretty clearly have acne on the extreme end of the scale. The thing that helped your teenage kid when they were getting 2 zits a month rather obviously isn’t the answer for me.
I have major hormonal issues. Anything that helps even a little with the acne just messes me up in other ways. Basically until menopause all I can really do is work on healing and fading the scarring as fast as possible so that the only marks on my face are fresh pimples.
That’s really hard to deal with. I had cystic acne basically until my early thirties. It probably wasn’t as extreme as you’re describing but it still sucked balls.
I’ll refrain from making suggestions since you’ve obviously heard it all at this point but just to give you hope: it will go away eventually.
I don’t think people with acne are “dirty.” At all. Or disgusting. I’m not sure where she gets that.
Yeah. I came here to say the same thing. WTF? Maybe because I’ve been dealing with acne my whole life in some form or another (Accutane during my high school years was LIFE CHANGING but a pimple pops up now and then), but I’ve NEVER associated acne with filth or uncleanliness. I wash my face. And shower. And wash my pillowcases. Etc. Etc. And always have. I work with a woman who had a near mental breakdown because she got a zit. To me – they’re facts of life.
Right. Maybe that’s why I never thought that, because I know I’m clean and when I was a teenager I had zits like everybody else.
It’s a pretty common belief that people get acne from not washing their faces. At least, I remember all the articles and pamphlets from when I was a teen that said “Acne doesn’t mean you’re not clean!” and stuff like that.
Really? That’s sad.
A lot of people do.
One of my cousins had very bad cystic acne when he was in high school. He dealt with a lot of comments like that and the fact that he also was a mechanic who had working guys hands even then feed the dirty rumours. I always felt so bad for him because he was meticulously clean and very self conscious about it.
I also dated a guy in high school who had unbelievable cystic acne, the majority of which affected his back though he had quite a bit on his face. People use to make a lot of comments about him being dirty as well and, trust me, the amount of time he spent getting clean would have shocked most of them.
**I was going to add a story about the boyfriend and him not wanting me to see his back but I actually started to cry typing it. It still amazes me that people were so cruel that he hid it from someone who loved him. Horrifying………
That’s awful! People can be so cruel. I always thought acne was from an internal, not external source, if that makes sense. Maybe because I’m very clean and I had normal teenage acne, usually before my period, so I knew it wasn’t from being dirty.
A lot of it is genetics. Teenagers are cruel anyway, so I understood. I have never felt so bad for anyone in my life. He finally took off his shirt one day and showed me. It was so painful to watch him in tears because he thought I would leave him because of it.
I never had any pimples as a teen, I developed them after my second kid, at 27. I knew it wasn’t from dirt because of my cousin. Sun is good for bad cases of cystic, so I use to take the BF to a beach way up river that no one went to so he could lay out in it. It helped a lot. I still see him often and he’s a great guy. It finally cleared up when he was in his late 20’s but I think that it really changed him for life. So sad.
Awwwww 🙁
That is so sad. People suck.
who is this girl and why is she so thirsty? and why does she get attention? she sounds like a mental midget and posting selfies from your colonoscopy? what’s next? her gyno exam? I can’t with this interchangeable “starlets”
OH GIRL! I completely understand! adult acne is THE WORST!!!!! it’s so frustrating!!!!
I have a new found fondness of her after this!
I can’t deal with this chic. It’s obvious to everyone looking that she does not have acne. A few pimples sure but anyone that’s suffered with actual acne knows what it looks like and also knows that burts bees is probably the worst thing for it (a combination of a gentle cleanser, a topical BHA and benzoyl peroxide would be a good place to start.) Also you can’t get acne from makeup brushes because acne bacteria can’t breed in the air, it’s something that develops internally. She sounds so ignorant and obviously just trying to sell a product. If you look at her Instagram her skin is obviously very well maintained and besides the obvious nose job, cheek fillers and lip injections her skin is relatively smooth and resembles that of an 18 year old. Also as someone who suffered from bad acne and still gets break outs there is a connection with insulin levels which then effects hormones, which then effects your skin. Certain foods can sky rocket your insulin which in turn can cause more oil production and clogged pores.
Also if you feel like you’ve tried everything and your acne still isn’t going away you might consider looking into a laser treatment or LED light therapy (blue light is good for acne). I’ve also heard really good things about oil cleansing (don’t use coconut oil tho) cause the oil in the cleanser can disolve the oil in your face and and leave things more naturally balanced.
It’s possible to get dermatitis from dirty brushes, which is what she said she had.
I didn’t get acne until I turned 18 and then suffered periodic breakouts for 8 years. I couldn’t take it anymore with the antibiotics which caused havoc with yeast imbalances in the last few years. I eventually pulled the trigger and did Accutane. Two years since and no major breakouts, clearest my face had been in a long time.
I know Accutane is known for causing depression and what not. I have dealt with depression before and it did not cause any depression for me. The link between the controversial side effects and Accutane has never been proven, but I did my research. The one thing they do tell you is that you CANNOT get pregnant while taking it. And it is VERY drying. I was dry like the Sahara for 5 months!! Couldn’t wear my contacts either my eyes were so dry. But I’m glad I did it because I don’t want to be dealing with this in my forties.
Just wanted to add to the discussion about Accutane – I struggled with terrible terrible acne from about age 13… very big, painful, un-poppable ones under the skin. My mom described them (to the doctor and her friends who had children struggling with acne) as looking like blueberries under the skin on my cheeks since they had a purplish hue, were so large and in clusters. It completely ruined my life for years…. Tried every oral and topical medication the dermatologist knew of, as well as things like proactive, but nothing worked. I had breakouts only on my cheeks and chin, and boys at school started calling me “chin strap” as a result, which resulted in me going home and crying myself to sleep most nights. I went on Accutane and, yes there were some down sides. It dried me out like crazy (skin flaking off constantly, lip skin peeling completely off about once a day), and there were many hurdles to jump to be able to take it (driving an hour away to meet the doctor who was willing to prescribe it to me, then again every month for a blood-draw to test for pregnancy, even though I wasnt sexually active; and having to answer a bunch of questions about pregnancy/birth control every month by phone or online before being allowed to get my prescription refilled), but honestly, it was like a miracle. I took it for 6 months when I was 15, and I’m now 25 and my skin is still just as good as when I got done with my cycle of the meds. The occasional zit will pop up, usually around my time off the month, but other than that my skin is clear as can be. I have always struggled with depression, but I didn’t notice any worsening of it while on Accutane-although i know it has happened to some people. Overall, it got the job done when nothing else would, and it ultimately changed my life. I would recommend it to those who’ve tried everything else, the pros outweigh the cons in my opinion. Funny part is that I met my now-best friend about a year after finishing my cycle of Accutane, and didn’t find out until about 2 years later that she had struggled with almost identical acne to mine, and she had been on Accutane at the same time as me, we just didn’t know each other yet!
First time I’ve ever posted a comment on here and it turns into a novel… Sorry everybody. Just had to share my story!
I don’t want to be mean but she does not have acne. There are no lumps or scars on her face. She has the odd spot on her forehead but no different to the rest of us. I am sick of celebrities claiming that they have acne when they mean they have two spots on their chin. Acne causes scarring and lumps to form on your face… I see none of this on Bella.