How Kendall Jenner Overcame Her Struggle With Acne

I’ve struggled with acne, you’ve struggled with acne — we’ve all struggled with acne. Acne is a universal skin disease and arguably a right of passage for us teens, however; supermodels are just like us too.

Kendall Jenner — the highest paid model of 2018 according to Forbes — needs no introduction as she is our generation’s most prevalent model, thanks to her family’s eponymous reality TV show: Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Jenner has grown up in the public eye. With 112 million followers on Instagram alone, Jenner’s every move, photo, and word is under a microscope. Jenner is no stranger to public scrutiny from her infamous Pepsi commercial to her acne breakout at the 2018 Golden Globes, trolls populate within Jenner’s perfectly curated social media profiles.

From walking the Paris Fashion Week catwalks to baring the cover of September Vogue, I was surprised that I shared the same room with Jenner today. The occasion is Proactiv x Teen Vogue’s panel focused on skin positivity. The panel featured a myriad of skin aficionados from Teen Vogue’s Editor-In-Chief Lindsay Peoples Wagner to Dermatologist Dr. Rachel Nazarian who weighed in on the various scientific and emotional ways one can overcome acne.

The woman of the hour and the face of Proactiv, Kendall Jenner, describes her uphill battle with acne and public perception. Despite having the quintessential pout and “legs for days”, Jenner admits she’s always had a difficult relationship with self love as a result of her acne. Jenner recalls a feeling of otherness and helplessness growing up watching her sisters have perfect skin. When Jenner’s acne resurfaced a year and a half ago, Jenner said “…it felt like I was in high school all over again.”

With the unrealistic societal standards brought about by Snapchat filters, teary-eyed Jenner, exclaims, “We live in a time when a ‘perfect filtered image’ of ourself is more important than connecting on a real level.” Jenner started using Proactiv to not only combat her breakouts but to heal within.

Taking care of one’s skin while also embracing the process is therapeutic in many facets. Allure’s Digital Editorial Director, Kelly Bales says that she pushes herself to post a photo where she doesn’t look her best to normalize the notion of imperfection and promote the trend of skin positivity. Jenner nods her head in agreement during Bales’ powerful words.

As the panel comes to an end, we make our way to an outdoor garden to exchange words and selfies with Jenner. I am greeted with a smile as Jenner tells me my eyes are beautiful. As Jenner and I snap away photos, I realize Jenner’s down-to-earth rhetoric and vocalization of her struggles with acne are testaments to her inevitable longing for acceptance and normalcy.