Hollywood may seem like a world of eternal glitz and gory, but it also has some terrible downsides. The stars that are so ardently loved across the globe have to keep themselves up to the mark in terms of conventional beauty standards, even if it costs them an arm and a leg. While Hollywood has evolved quite well over time, physical appearance still holds high value in the industry.
So it’s understandable that despite being a huge name in Hollywood, Chris Pine feels uneasy about his acne being brought up, especially about a missed opportunity like auditioning for ‘The O.C’. The star recently reacted to casting director Patrick Rush bringing up Pine’s “really bad skin problems” in one of his books. Here’s what happened.
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Chris Pine Says He Has Struggled With Acne All His Life After Patrick Rush’s Remarks
Casting director Patrick Rush recently released a book ‘Welcome to the O.C.: The Oral History’, giving some insights into the making of the blockbuster film. However, things took a rather unexpected turn in the book when revealed that Chris Pine had interviewed for the part of Ryan Atwood and was “really good,” but the actor was “experiencing really bad skin problems” that “looked insurmountable.”.
According to a report by AV Club, the casting director further mentioned how Ben McKenzie was eventually finalized as the perfect fit for the role. Talking about the same during a recent interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the ‘Star Trek‘ actor handled the comments with grace though he said he does not appreciate Rush bringing his skin problems up in his book.
“It’s a part of my life. The man didn’t have to talk about it. I mean, it’s his prerogative,” the actor said. He further opened up about his struggle with acne since he was a teenager. He said he’d had “awful skin as a teenager” that started “breaking out again” after he graduated college.
Chris Pine also asserted that he understood why the casting team of O.C. was looking for “pretty people“. “Look, I was going out for The O.C., like a teenage melodrama,” he said. “I can understand why they wanted to have pretty people doing pretty things. And bad acne is not a key to [success],” the actor said during the podcast.
Commenting on the missed opportunity, the host od the podcast said, “It’s a shame. If you had gone on The O.C., your career might have worked out.” Pine replied with a rather optimistic answer. “I don’t want to say I’m grateful for not having landed the job, but I’m all right,” he said.
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Chris Pine Opens Up About The “Emotionally Incapacitating” Impact Acne Can Have On Someone
Despite the positive outlook on his life and career, Chis Pine admitted that being reminded of his acne-related setback did bring back some painful memories and feelings of PTSD. “It’s no fun having bad skin,” he said. “It’s no fun going to auditions when you have bad skin. It was one of the most traumatic points of my life, but it is my story,” the actor said.
He also drew parallels between having acne problems and being obese, as both things traditionally have a stigma attached to it. He also said that acne has an often-underestimated impact as it can be profoundly distressing and emotionally debilitating
“It’s so strange. People talk about obesity — and obviously, I understand the difficulty of that — or they talk about any sorts of things, and I feel like acne is regarded as this thing of like, ‘Oh, it’s just like, what you go through as a teenager.’ And it can be kind of just like you get a pimple on your forehead, [but] it can also be tremendously debilitating and really, seriously, emotionally incapacitating, which it was for me,” he said.
The actor also offered empathy and solidarity to others facing similar problems. “So, for anyone out there that is experiencing that: I get you, I hear you, I’ve been there, I know it. I know how depressing it can be and the kind of depths of sorrow it can drag you to, but there is a brighter day,” he said.
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