“I get it on my chest, get it on my tummy. It’s really everywhere,” the actress said.

Sarah Pidgeon shares the down side of her stunning *Love Story *looks: ‘Psoriasis all over my body’

"I get it on my chest, get it on my tummy. It's really everywhere," the actress said.

By Marina Watts

Marina Watts

Marina Watts is a news writer for with seven years experience covering entertainment, pop culture and celebrity news. Her previous work appears in PEOPLE, Bustle and Newsweek.

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April 10, 2026 12:42 p.m. ET

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Sarah Pidgeon; Carolyn Bessette. Credit:

- Sarah Pidgeon revealed that her *Love Story *wardrobe aggravated a preexisting skin condition.

- "I got a heat rash because it was like 90 degrees outside, and then that turned into psoriasis all over my body," Pidgeon said about shooting in Hyannis during the summer in a cashmere sweater and jean.

- All episodes of *Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette *are available to stream on Hulu.

Pain is beauty. Just ask Sarah Pidgeon.

While filming *Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette*, the actress' psoriasis was aggravated by her character's wardrobe. In a video shared by *Vogue *on April 9, Pidgeon walks fans through her skincare routine and opened up about the skin condition.

She recalled her psoriasis flaring up while filming on location in Cape Cod. "We were out in Hyannis and I was wearing a cashmere turtleneck and jeans," Pidgeon said. "I got a heat rash because it was like 90 degrees outside, and then that turned into psoriasis all over my body."

"I get it on my chest, get it on my tummy. It's really everywhere. It comes in waves, it'll go away, and you can always cover it up," she added. Per the Mayo Clinic, psoriasis is a skin disease that causes "a rash with itchy, scaly patches, most commonly on the knees, elbows, trunk and scalp." Though it is a chronic condition with no cure, there are treatments available to help manage symptoms.

Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette on 'Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette'.

Pidgeon pointed out that she is a natural brunette and changed her hair color for her *Love Story *role. "I went in to audition for Carolyn with long, dark brown hair, and have since gone blonde, which is a whole process," she began. "But we also have to be really careful because I have psoriasis, and obviously it's quite an intense treatment, sort of lightening such dark hair."

She showed off a steroid she puts on her scalp to keep it from getting aggravated by the lightening treatment. Pidgeon said that the steroid keeps her psoriasis in check with her diet. "I have yet to have the self-control to get rid of gluten, or dairy, or sweets."

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Elsewhere in the *Vogue *video, Pidgeon mentioned the process it took to get the exact hair color and style right for Bessette, who died in 1999. "It took us, I think, 20-something hours over two days to get my hair right," she said.

After first-look photos of Pidgeon and her *Love Story *costar Paul Anthony Kelly went viral in June 2025, many were critical of her character's hair. "No one would believe that Carolyn in the '90s would ever have that color from me," Bessette's real-life hair colorist Brad Johns told *Vogue *of the wig Pidgeon was photographed in. "It’s too 2024."

The controversial photos were taken down, the wig was dropped, and the team of Barry Lee Moe, Kari Hill, and Alex Pardoe came in to recreate Bessette's iconic looks with Pidgeon's own hair.

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"[Bessette's] effortless, lived-in waves still stand out today, and it was important to bring that to life in order to fully encapsulate her transformation from the early days at Calvin Klein into the Kennedy years," Moe told PEOPLE about perfecting the style for the show.

"It was magical to see how much the hair elevated her already incredible performance. Everything just aligned and Sarah transformed," he said.

Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette on 'Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr & Carolyn Bessette'.

All episodes of *Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette *are available to stream on Hulu.

See Sarah Pidgeon's full springtime makeup routine and learn her beauty secrets below.

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