It would be hard to imagine being in class one day as an adolescent only to turn on the TV later and seeing your seventh-grade science teacher clotheslining another woman on WWE Raw. Well, that happened to be the case for Michelle McCool who prior to becoming a pro-wrestler was a teacher in Palatka, Florida. It also doesn't hurt that she was actually a quality athlete that would consistently leave her opponents mangled on the ring floor. Not to mention, Michelle McCool has one of the most complex finishing moves on this list in her patented Faithbreaker.
After ditching her teaching gig in her hometown, Michelle took her talents to the 2004 WWE Diva Search, despite losing to Christy Hemme, she signed a three-year deal with the world's largest pro-wrestling platform. After training in the WWE's developmental territories for two years, McCool made her main roster debut in 2006 and didn't look back. Throughout her five-year stint with the WWE, McCool became the inaugural winner of the WWE Divas Championship and later won the WWE Women's Championship making her the first to hold both titles. At 2010's Night of Champions event, McCool united both belts making her the first and only WWE Unified Divas Champion to this day.
They may be beautiful, rich and famous, but celebrities are human too, and that means they're just as prone to getting sick as the rest of us. And just like us, some celebs even live with chronic conditions that can take a toll on their day-to-day lives. But eczema – also referred to as dermatitis – is a common dry skin condition. Symptoms include dry, itchy, red and scaly skin. In more extreme cases, the skin can crust and bleed. According to the National Eczema Association, 1 in 10 individuals will develop eczema in their lifetime. And given these statistics, it’s hardly a surprise there are a few celebrities out there who have eczema too.
The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, 37, suffered from eczema in her teens. Kate was bullied heavily whilst attending Downe House girls’ boarding school, according to the Duchess’s friend Jessica Hay. According Hay, Middleton’s bullies made fun of her eczema. ‘It didn’t help that she was so tall and self-conscious about her eczema,’ Hay told CelebNow. Studies have shown children with moderate and extreme atopic dermatitis are more likely to suffer from conditions like anxiety and low self-esteem, which has a knock-on effect on their school work and ability to make friends.
Although Brad Pitt, 55, has not spoken about the issue himself, his co-star Cate Blanchett disclosed that Pitt was suffering from eczema during filming of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. In an interview with Scotland’s Daily Record, the actress said, ‘We went through three weeks of make-up tests and he was covered in eczema from it all.’ Blanchett sweetly loaned Pitt her skin cream to deal with the dermatitis, that had developed due to the use of prosthetic makeup worn during filming. Prosthetic make-up isn’t the hugest concern for us non-Hollywood folk, nevertheless, what is a concern, is how makeup can trigger eczema flair up. Unless makeup brushes are constantly washed (let’s be real, they’re not), they become a breeding ground for bacteria. This can lead to clogged pores and irritated sensitive skin.
Adele, 31, stated that her eczema flared up when she became a new mom. During a press conference in 2013 after her Golden Globe win for Best Original Song for the Bond film Sykfall, the singer said: ‘I am exhausted. That’s how [motherhood] changed me. I have eczema from boiling bottles.’ Research carried out by the BMJ (formerly known as the British Medical Journal) has revealed that contact dermatitis has the potential to have ‘detrimental’ impact and in the worst case scenarios can even threaten some sufferers ability to work.