Sarah Pidgeon said a wardrobe mishap while filming Ryan Murphy's Love Story left her with a heat rash that turned into psoriasis across her body. The 29-year-old actor talked about the incident on Thursday, April 9, in a Vogue Beauty Secrets video, describing how the costume and the weather collided in a way that made the shoot far harder than it looked on screen.
“When we were shooting Love Story, 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.” She said the condition shows up on her chest and tummy, adding, “It's really everywhere. It comes in waves, it'll go away, and you can always cover it up.”
The episode lands with extra force because Pidgeon has spoken before about psoriasis, including her scalp, which she discussed in a 2024 interview with Into the Gloss. She said her scalp can be aggravated by hair dye, a problem that mattered during the same role that required her to shift from long, dark brown hair to Carolyn Bessette Kennedy's blonde. Pidgeon portrayed Carolyn in Love Story, and the transformation was part of the job from the start.
That hair change was not a quick salon refresh. Kari Hill said in March that taking Pidgeon from very dark hair to Carolyn’s blonde took over 20 hours in the first session alone, using her signature Foiled Cashmere technique and Schwarzkopf Professional BLONDME 9+ Premium Lightener. Hill said the process was deliberately precise: “We also have to be careful because I have psoriasis, and obviously it's quite an intense treatment, lightening such dark hair.” She added that the result was meant to feel controlled rather than casual, saying, “It is not a ‘lived-in’ look that has dominated our modern culture through techniques like balayage or hair painting.”
The contrast is plain enough. The role asked Pidgeon to become Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, but the transformation also had to work around a skin condition that can flare under stress and irritation. What she described on Thursday was not a beauty anecdote so much as a reminder that even a polished screen image can come with a cost the audience never sees.
