LeAnn Rimes shares naked photos to show 'unabashedly honest' extent of her psoriasis

‘My whole body—my mind, my spirit—needed this desperately,’ says singer

(Getty Images)

LeAnn Rimes has opened up about her struggles with psoriasis in an essay for Glamour, which is accompanied by a series of naked photographs of the singer.

“I was only two years old when I was diagnosed with psoriasis,” Rimes writes. 

“By the time I was six, about 80 per cent of my body was covered in painful red spots—everything but my hands, feet, and face.”

The musician explained how she tried everything she could to treat the skin condition to no avail.

In her 20s, she found a treatment that kept her skin clear, but flare-ups would still occur from time to time.

Now, in a series of nude photos taken in a grassy field, the 38-year-old has shown the extent of her psoriasis, which affects her legs, back, and stomach.

“When I look at these photos, I see so much more than my skin," Rimes writes.

“I hope anyone who also kept themselves small has the courage to step outside of that cage. When we allow ourselves not to be held in, our lives come back to us.”

Rimes also shared the photos on Instagram as part of World Psoriasis Day, which took place on Thursday 29 October.

“Music has been my gift, and why I’m here. But I want to give a voice to these other pieces of me,” she wrote in the caption. 

"And I want to give a voice to what so many other people are going through. This is finally my time to be unabashedly honest about what psoriasis is and what it looks like.

“You know when you say something you’ve been holding in for so long, and it’s such a sigh of relief? That's what these photos are to me. I needed this. My whole body—my mind, my spirit—needed this desperately.”

Rimes has been praised for sharing the photos, with her post garnering more than 33,000 likes and hundreds of comments.

“Your courage and honesty is contagious. Thank you for sharing,” wrote one person.

“You're a true role model for girls. I'm sharing your power with my daughters,” added another.

The NHS defines psoriasis as a skin condition that causes “red, flaky, crusty patches of skin covered with silvery scales”.

The patches usually appear on your elbows, knees, scalp and lower back. However, they can appear anywhere on your body.

Psoriasis affects roughly two per cent of people in the UK and can start at any age, but most commonly develops in adults under the age of 35.

You can read more about psoriasis here.