Chris Pine gets candid about past struggle with acne: ‘I know how depressing it can be’

By Alli Rosenbloom, CNN

(CNN) — Chris Pine had to have a thick skin coming up in Hollywood amid a struggle with acne early on in his career

In a recent episode of the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast, Pine said that he had “awful skin” as a teenager and after college and took issue with the fact that acne can sometimes be regarded as something only teenagers go through. In his case, he said, it was “tremendously debilitating and really seriously emotionally incapacitating.”

“It was one of the most traumatic points of my life but it is my story,” he said.

The discussion was prompted by the podcast’s host Josh Horowitz asking Pine how he felt about comments that “The O.C.” casting director Patrick Rush made last year in Alan Sepinwall’s 2023 book “Welcome to The O.C.: The Oral History.”

In it, Rush revealed that Pine read for the role of Ryan Atwood for the series, but that his “really bad skin” at the time, to Rush, was “insurmountable.” The role of Atwood ultimately went to actor Ben McKenzie, who starred in the series during its run from 2003 to 2007.

Pine candidly said that he felt like Rush “didn’t have to talk about it” in the book.

“I can understand that they wanted to have pretty people doing pretty things and bad acne is not a key,” he said. “I don’t want to say I’m grateful for not having landed that… but I’m alright.”

Pine, of course, is more than alright. He went on to have a successful career in Hollywood starring as Captain Kirk in the rebooted “Star Trek” franchise and appearing in critically-acclaimed films like “Don’t Worry Darling” and “Hell or High Water.”

He said will never forget the struggle he went through to get to this point.

“I know how depressing it can be and the kind of depths of sorrow it can drag you to,” he said. “But there is a brighter day.”

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