Cyndi Lauper’s Secret Struggle With Psoriasis: ‘I Felt Like The Elephant Man’ [Video]
Cyndi Lauper is finally opening up about her secret struggle with psoriasis in hopes that her work with the National Psoriasis Foundation will help others. The painful disease at times left Lauper debilitated, and there were days “It was so bad, I felt like the Elephant Man.”
Cyndi Lauper, 62, is best known for her classic 80’s hits, “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” and “True Colors” and a singing career that has lasted more than four decades. For years, Cyndi hid her struggle with psoriasis, covering up her body from the neck down – and that left her bedridden, covered in a painful bumpy rash, reports People. Cyndi has now partnered with the National Psoriasis Foundation and Novartis as a critical part of a new information campaign MoretoPsoriasis.com. The campaign is aimed to bring attention to an embarrassing condition many people like Cyndi Lauper hide.
Such fun today with @cyndilauper and @HalaKotb1 @KathieLGifford @TODAYshow @klgandhoda pic.twitter.com/hNSr4VEwtm
— Hoda Kotb (@hodakotb) July 28, 2015
Lauper wants shed light on the disease so others don’t have to be embarrassed like her. “You don’t have to suffer in silence or live in pain. It’s not just a rash. It’s a disease.”
As part of the campaign, Cyndi tells her story. Her psoriasis started with an irritation on her scalp back in 2010. “First, I thought I just had a really bad bleach job,” Lauper told People. “I am a suicide blonde, after all.”
Cyndi Lauper was diagnosed psoriasis and given a special shampoo to use – except her psoriasis got worse, reports News Max. In 2012, the psoriasis flared up, and according to Cyndi, “kicked into something scary. My whole entire body was covered in a rash and scaly skin. And then it just stared creeping up my neck. I felt swallowed by it.”
Cyndi Lauper has opened up about her painful battle with psoriasis for the first time http://t.co/PLTiR8ox3j pic.twitter.com/wJRXlwHMxY
— Daily Mail Femail (@Femail) July 29, 2015
“I tried every kind of natural cure I could,” Lauper confessed, explaining sometimes she was so weak from the disease that she couldn’t leave her bed. “It was like I Love Lucy. I felt like a mad scientist mixing this and that. My immune system got a little wacky, and it took my strength away. My skin was so inflamed, it could not regulate hot and cold, so I had the chills all the time.”
The campaign is aimed at helping others suffering from psoriasis. “I’m not alone,” says Cyndi Lauper. “There are 7.5 million Americans with this. Find what works for you. You gotta keep going, because if not, you’ll end up on your butt like I was.”
[Image credit: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images]
