Seventeen seasons in the NFL has earned 6'7, 295lb linebacker, Julius Peppers some rather big paydays in the NFL. It also didn't hurt being a 9x Pro Bowler and 3x First-Team All-Pro nominee to help him secure some of those large checks. Peppers played his collegiate football at the University of North Carolina from 1998-2001. While winning the Lombardi Award, Bill Willis Trophy, and Chuck Bednarik Award for his performance in football, Peppers also played on the school's basketball and even participated in the Final Four. Peppers ditched basketball in his final season and currently is ranked second all-time in career sacks at the institution.
After outperforming his peers in college, Julius Peppers was drafted 2nd overall in the 2002 NFL Draft by his home state Carolina Panthers where he played a total of ten seasons in two separate stints with the franchise. Out the gate, Peppers signed a seven-year, $46 million contract with the Panthers. Which proved to be beneficial for all parties involved after winning Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2002. In 2010, Peppers signed a six-year contract worth $84 million with the Chicago Bears. After four seasons in Chicago, Peppers signed a three-year $26 million contract with the Green Bay Packers. In 2017, Peppers returned to Carolina where he would play two more seasons before retiring in February 2019. With close to $80 million paid to him by the Panthers alone, Julius Peppers is still on the team's payroll in the business operations department.
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.