‘My Skin Used to Have Me Curled Up in the Bed Crying’: Keke Palmer Talks About Her Struggle With Acne

Achieving flawless skin can be a challenging task. With everything from food, pollution and everyday stress, it seems as though clear skin is granted to only a chosen few. 

Actress Keke Palmer knows this all too well. The “True Jackson” star has had her fair share of battles with acne and is now celebrating her skin. On Thursday, Sept. 3, Palmer, 27, took to her Twitter account to show off her clear complexion now that’s she’s been able to get her acne under control. 

Keke Palmer speaks candidly about her skincare journey. (Photo source: KeKe Palmer’s Instagram Account)

“I know y’all about to die at this photo cause of these lashes and these Mickey ears,” Palmer said, poking fun at her eyelash extensions and hairstyle. She added, “BUT ITS THE SKIN FOR ME, y’all know what I’ve endured!! My skin used to have me curled up in the bed crying. Now I really truly understand it, I’m so thankful, no filta Poohs.”

https://twitter.com/KekePalmer/status/1301512017103196166?s=20

Fans cheered on the actress for her transparency and expressed how her message inspired them to feel less insecure about their own ace struggles, including one fan who tweeted, “Horrible acne scarring & dark spots. Please do a skincare routine or products that worked for you, if you can. I love you Keeks you’re my motivation.”

https://twitter.com/lifewithden/status/1301516608196808708?s=20

While another user wrote, “This is giving me hope cause the way lockdown acne has my skin right now is beyond depressing.”

A third fan replied to Palmer’s post, writing, “This skin stuff (especially as black girls) can be no joke, but the gag is you’re beautiful either way!” While another chimed in, “Come through SKIN. It’s truly no better feeling than understanding your skin, getting the right skincare and seeing the results! Knowing how much you’ve endured with your skin too, this makes me so happy to see!”

This moment of celebration for Palmer has been long overdue for the actress, who earlier this year, opened up about her skincare struggles with an emotional post on Instagram. “I woke up this morning in the worst spirit you guys, all because of my skin… It’s like you can try everything (which I have) and still nothing works,” she wrote in her lengthy post.

“Every time I think my skin is on the up and up I turn around and I’m broken out even worse than before. Scarred up and wondering which products I have to throw out if not ALL. Feeling completely insecure which in turn makes you irritable and just self conscious for the smallest reasons.” She ultimately decided to share her skin-care journey to show others that they were not alone.”

Palmer said that at one point, her skin was so bad that she felt insecure and started to act “irritable and self-conscious for the smallest reasons.” She ultimately decided to share her skin-care journey to show others that they were not alone.  

Palmer concluded her caption saying, “I’m gonna roll with the punches but some days I will get the air knocked out of me. Gonna keep going though! Cause that’s how I was built. Much love.”

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Back to top