SINGER Louise Redknapp has spoken out about how her appearance and confidence issues held her back during her career.
The 50-year-old, once voted one of the sexiest women in the world during the 90s, shared how her body hang-ups still left her struggling with her self-esteem.
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Like millions of other women, she has battled with skin conditions and worries about being photographed when she least expected it.
These concerns about how she looked left her struggling to live in the moment and enjoy things fully, with her confidence nose diving after having children once a skin issue flared up.
Former Eternal star Louise said: “There’s been lots of times in life that maybe being worried of how I looked has held me back from really living in the moment and enjoying things.
“Every moment being on the beach, worrying that somebody might take a picture of you in an unflattering angle – I spent most of my holidays lying flat in the hope that no one would spot me.”
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These feelings weren’t helped by her struggles with pigmentation in her skin tone, which was at its worst in her twenties, causing her confidence to plummet.
She said: “I said that I looked like I had the world map on my face.
“The pigmentation that I suffered with after having my first child saw one dermatologist say it was the worst they had seen in a really long time.
“And it really affected my confidence, because on one hand, I was so happy having this gorgeous baby, and on the other hand, I didn’t know what I was going to do with my face.”
Louise spoke out after joining forces with Love Island star Dani Dyer, relationship expert and co-host of Married At First Sight Paul C Brunson and author Louise Pentland, who have also suffered with hyperpigmentation, for a live billboard stunt created by skincare brand Beiersdorf.
Beiersdorf, which is behind the likes of NIVEA and Eucerin, created the stunt to help empower others with the skin condition.
The campaign – ‘I AM… Thiamidol’ features four probing interviews, as they each share their skin confidence journey.
But despite her earlier hang-ups, Louise is hopeful today’s popstars will be able to show more vulnerability than she was able to when she topped the charts in the 1990s and early 2000s.
She said: “I think I come from an era in music where everything was so sort of perfect and you never really got to show your true self at all, because every time you went out and you did anything, there was hair, there was makeup, there was the whole kind of showbiz element behind it.
“I feel as time’s gone on, especially in today’s world, we’re so open about talking about mental health, anxiety, actually, talking about yourself, which shows a real of strength and character.”
And even on a bad skin day, she now has ways of trying to stay positive when she doesn’t feel that way.
Louise said: “I think we’ve got to accept we’re not always going to stay really positive but remember that not everybody’s seeing what you’re seeing.
“The things that we think are terrible – blemishes on our face, pigment on our face – people might notice it, but it’s not the first thing they judge you on, and if it is, you don’t want to know them anyway.
“Trying to keep a positive mental attitude is really tough but just remember that everybody’s fighting their own battles and believe you me, whatever you’re fighting at that time will not beat the forefront of their mind.”
Find out more about the I AM.. Thiamidol campaign by visiting @nivea_uk on Instagram.
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