Six celebs talk about their psoriasis arthritis symptoms, their struggles to get the right treatment, and their diet and wellness best practices.
By
Salma Abdelnour Gilman and Cathy Garrard
by
Samir Dalvi, MD
Updated on March 19, 2024
Even celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Ted Danson,and Lance Bass faced challenges in getting a psoriatic arthritis diagnosis.
“Let’s just address the fact that it’s a very sexy disease,” joked the actor Dax Shepard, talking about hispsoriatic arthritisas a guest on theLaughing With a Leaky Gutpodcast. “I think when people hear ‘psoriatic arthritis,’ they immediately become aroused and intrigued.”
Shepard’s openness in discussing his life with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is helping demystify an often misunderstood disease. Psoriatic arthritis shows up in different ways for different people, often as intense joint pain and fatigue, sometimes along with the itchy skin patches and plaques typically associated with psoriasis.
It can take years for individuals with psoriatic arthritis to get the help they need, leading to confusion, frustration, diminished quality of life, and even irreversible joint damage. Survey results show that 96 percent of people who were diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis had received at least one earlier misdiagnosis.
Recently, more celebrities have revealed their struggles with psoriatic arthritis, raising awareness about a disease that impacts 1.5 million Americans and roughly 1 in 3people with psoriasis, according toJohns Hopkins Arthritis Center. Here are six men and women who have chosen to speak publicly and candidly about life with psoriatic arthritis.
6 Psoriatic Arthritis Symptoms You Shouldn't Ignore
Psoriatic arthritis can impact both your physical and emotional health. Look out for these common symptoms and see a healthcare provider if you experience them.
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Lance Bass
Nearly two decades after he was an international teen heartthrob in the pop boy band NSYNC, Lance Bass started feeling pain in his hands and shoulders. At first he wrote it off as the wear-and-tear that comes along with being a stage performer and dancer. But as time went on, he went to a doctor with his concerns and was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis.
“When I found out that the symptoms I was experiencing were a result of psoriatic arthritis, I was surprised and scared — I was only in my thirties,” said Bass, now 44.
“I lost a lot of weight, a lot of my muscle, and I just did not feel right,” hetold E! News. “Once I found out that it was PsA, it changed my life in the best way possible because then I knew how to go about my workout routines and I shouldn’t be afraid to work out my shoulders, knees, and all that. And so I started eating healthier, I started exercising better. It really changed my life in a very healthy way.”
Bass and his husband, the actor Michael Turchin, welcomed their twinsViolet and Alexander in 2021, and he toldGood Morning Americahe was so glad he got the disease under control before the arrival of his happy bundles.
“My shoulders were the main problem for me, and if I would’ve had kids five years ago, I don’t even know if I would’ve been able to feed my kids and hold them in a certain way because you use your shoulders so much,” according to theToday show. “I’m glad I got that under control before the kids came so that I can actually hold them without being in such excruciating pain.”
When Shepard first started feeling severe pain in his feet at around age 33, he thought it was from an old motorcycle injury, he told listeners onLaughing With a Leaky Gut. The 49-year-old actor, known for his many roles on shows like NBC’sParenthoodand films likeCHiPs, had been training at the time for the movieWhen in Rome, costarring his wife, Kristen Bell. He assumed all the physical training he’d done to prepare for the film had triggered the aches.
A podiatrist gave himcortisoneshots, and other doctors prescribed dietary changes, surgery, or other treatments, but nothing helped for long. Shepard said he didn’t get apsoriatic arthritis diagnosisuntil after he’d had daily joint pain for four straight years. A dermatologist detected the condition by looking at his fingernails —psoriatic arthritis can cause a range of nail symptoms — and suggested he see arheumatologist, who diagnosed him with psoriatic arthritis and prescribed medications.
Shepard said the dietary changes he made after visiting an ayurvedic clinic that his wife recommended have helped keep his symptoms under control. “It’s pretty conclusive that it works for me,” he said. “Nogluten, no dairy, no eggs. The only meats I can have are turkey, bison, and lamb. No nightshade, no peanuts.”
Since his diagnosis, Shepard has been outspoken about psoriatic arthritis and has discussed his battles with it on his own celebrity-interview podcast,Armchair Expert — which he describes as “a podcast that celebrates the messiness of being human.”
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Ted Danson
Ted Danson has hung onto his spot on the A-list ever since he played the hilariously vain bartender Sam Malone on the ’80s sitcomCheers, going on to star in numerous films and shows, including NBC’s hit seriesThe Good Place, costarring Kristen Bell. His friendship with Bell and Shepard led to a discovery that both men have psoriatic arthritis.
On a 2018 episode of Shepard’sArmchair Expertpodcast, the two compared notes — but mostly laughed about the challenges of their shared condition.
“You’ve hit the right humor vein,” Danson told Shepard, “because there is nothing less sexy than turning to your wife and saying, ‘My psoriasis is bothering me.’”
Danson told Shepard he has had psoriatic arthritis for about 15 years, “which is no fun because it does mess up your joints.” Danson manages his recurringback and hip painthrough meditation, breathing exercises, and diet.
RELATED:Ted Danson Turns to Meditation for Pain Relief
“It’s a little strange to have this autoimmune disease and also being 70, because you never know: Is this what a healthy 70-year-old feels like ... or is this your autoimmune disease?” Danson, who is now 76, said on the podcast. Watching his diet has helped: “By and large I don’t eat wheats or grasses of any kind,” Danson said, adding that he tries to consume as much “healthy good fish” and vegetables as he can.
In a2020 interview with Grand magazine, Danson advised the site’s grandparent-age audience to take care of their health and “get to your doctor sooner rather than later, because a small problem can become a big problem. I am a hypochondriac — but psoriatic arthritis is genuine enough to get your attention.”
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Kim Kardashian
Kim Kardashian manages to stay in the spotlight 24/7 as a model, reality TV star, prison-reform advocate, and mom to four kids withex-husbandYe (Kanye West). While her life can seem impossibly glam, she stays relatable to her audience by opening up about personal struggles, like her battle with psoriatic arthritis.
Writing on her sister Kourtney Kardashian’s blog,Poosh, in 2019, Kardashian said she first noticed her skin flaring up when she was 25, after recovering from a cold. Her mother, Kris Jenner, recognized the skin patches as psoriasis since she herself had coped with the disease for years. Kardashian’s skin symptoms came and went, and disappeared altogether during her pregnancies, but in her thirties she started experiencing episodes of debilitating joint pain.
“I was freaking out. I couldn’t even pick up a toothbrush, my hands hurt so badly,” she wrote on her sister’s blog.
She was initially misdiagnosed withrheumatoid arthritisandlupus, but says she felt relieved when her condition was confirmed as psoriatic arthritis.
“It’s still painful and scary, but I was happy to have a diagnosis,”she told the Independentin September 2019. “No matter what autoimmune condition I had, I was going to get through it, and they are all manageable with proper care.”
In 2024, Kardashianpublicly shared another symptom flare — in this case, a patch of psoriasis on her shin — on social media, writing, “Not gonna lie, this is painful. Not sure what my triggers are. I haven’t changed my diet. I’ve tried everything! Psoriasis sucks.”
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Phil Mickelson
In his four-decade career, the professional golfer Phil Mickelson, 53, has won 45 events on the PGA Tour, including six major championships: three Masters titles, two PGA Championships, and one Open Championship.
His achievements would be impressive for any golfer, but they’re all the more remarkable because he has lived — and played golf — with psoriatic arthritis for more than a decade.
Mickelson’s symptoms began shortly before the U.S. Open in 2010, showing up first as a pain in his right ankle followed by aches in his fingers and wrists. Thinking he had hurt himself training, he saw a doctor, who diagnosed him with psoriatic arthritis.
Prescription medications have helped him control the condition since then.
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Stacy London
A former cohost of TLC’sWhat Not to Wearand the author of how-to books about personal style, Stacy London has used her fashion-world platform to help others with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis recognize and cope with the often hard-to-pin-down condition.
London, 54, developed psoriasis when she was 4, but it wasn’t until her forties, when she was shooting the last season ofWhat Not to Wearin 2013, that her psoriatic arthritis symptoms kicked in. At first she had no idea why she was feeling fatigued, or putting on extra pounds, or experiencing pain in her Achilles tendon. But while interviewing a dermatologist as part of her work as a National Psoriasis Foundation spokesperson, she learned she may have psoriatic arthritis, as shetoldParadein June 2020. Tests with a rheumatologist confirmed the diagnosis.
“A lot of weird symptoms that don’t seem to make sense sometimes have something to do with autoimmune,” she toldParade. “So it is worth seeing a rheumatologist, especially when you have weird aches and pains or total exhaustion.”
While intense aches in her spine and hips can still keep London bedridden, she is proactive about keeping symptoms at bay with meditation, modified workouts, and a vitamin-and-mineral-packed diet, and she takes medications when needed.
London has learned to thrive by managing the condition, tellingParade, “You certainly don’t get over it because you still have to live with the illness,” but “you get used to it.”
