ANTM Winner Reveals Her Psoriasis Struggles

Filed Under: Models

Good for her.

ANTM Cycle 7 winner CariDee English has revealed her terrible battle with the skin disease psoriasis.

CariDee recently released pictures of herself when she was at her worst, which was when the skin condition covered over 70% of her body.

Awful!

The top model recalls:

"It was horrible — 70% of my skin from head to toe was covered in psoriasis, and it was the first time my hands were totally covered in it. We think the face is the first thing people see, but it's incredible how often we use our hands."

Her family even tried to convince her to find another career! Cari explains:

"My family — God bless them — tried to protect me by saying that I had to choose another career. But then I landed on America's Next Top Model, and I was like a horse out of the gate, finally living my dream."

Luckily for her, she was able to find a cure with Stelara injections. But before that, she wanted to share her condition to show others they too can overcome it.

"I wanted to make it a source of empowerment. Before I started the new medication, I thought, 'How can I best utilize this flare-up to help other people?' I decided I would document myself fully exposed, with the hope that if a girl can see that out in the open, it can give them hope there's something concrete out there that can help them."

Currently, Cari's outbreaks are under control and hopes to raise more awareness and fundraise for the disease in the future.

Tags: americas next top model, antm, caridee english, cycle 7, psoriasis