MATTHEW MORRISON Working on Glee gave me terrible psoriasis
The talented actor and singer tells GEMMA CALVERT how stress and a heavy workload left him suffering from the painful skin condition
FOR six years Matthew Morrison starred in Fox’s hit comedy-drama series Glee playing Will Schuester, the all-American choir director who famously danced in the rain with Gwyneth Paltrow. Yet at the height of the show’s popularity, behind his character’s smile and positivity, Matthew was locked in a living hell, battling chronic skin disorder psoriasis.
“There are a few episodes of Glee where I don’t even look like myself because I had psoriasis on my face and the make-up artists had to use so much make-up to make me look normal,” recalls Matthew, 41.
“Taking that make-up off was really painful and I had red patches all over my body, so if I brushed up against a table I’d literally start bleeding. It was a really bad time.”
According to researchers at The University of Manchester, almost two per cent of the UK population – 1.1million – are affected by psoriasis, an autoimmune disease in which the body falsely detects a threat then attacks it, causing raised, red, scaly patches to appear on the skin.
Nine years ago Matthew, now a captain on BBC1’s The Greatest Dancer, noticed patches of rough, red skin on his elbows.
“I didn’t realise what it was until I showed my dad [a nurse who has also suffered from psoriasis].”
WHILE roughly a third of cases run in families, environmental factors also play a part. Matthew, who was raised in Chico, California, believes stress was central to developing the problem.
“The workload for Glee was unlike any television or Broadway show I’ve ever done.We were working 16 hours a day and on top of that I was releasing my first album and going on tour.
“I’ve learnt the hard way how much of a necessity it is for me to say no. Back then I wasn’t saying no to things and doing everything that anyone asked of me.”
Initially, he looked to alternative medicine to find a solution.
“I tried every natural remedy under the sun,” he explains. “Two holistic women in LA called The Witches made a herbal bath potion for me containing different homeopathic plants and powders.
“I’d take baths in this stuff and it was supposed to be the best remedy but nothing worked and the psoriasis got steadily worse.
I’ll always try to go down the holistic route first butWestern medicine is there for a reason and is sometimes the only option.The psoriasis spread really fast and eventually got so bad I went to a doctor.”
Matthew was prescribed Humira, also known as adalimumab, a drug known to relieve pain and reduce inflammation in suffers of psoriasis and other autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn’s.
“I inject myself with it once a month,” he says. “I’m supposed to do it every two weeks but because of how I live my life, I’m able to do it less,” he says, referring to his twice-weekly sessions of vinyasa yoga and reformer Pilates, which he says make his lifestyle “more balanced” than it was in his 30s.
Matthew and his wife Renee, 35 – mum to their two-year-old son Revel James Makai – also practise daily meditation. “Meditation is all about breathing and connecting to your breath. It has really evened me out and I now feel in harmony with everything that’s going on in my life,” says the actor, who is a fan of the Calm app, which promises to improve users’ sleep, confidence, stress and anxiety levels through guided meditations, breathing exercises and soothing music.
Meditation helps Matthew to “remain present” in a busy world and be more composed.
“Things happen that trigger an emotion of not feeling comfortable in your own skin, that make us want to jump out and react,” he says.
“Some of my triggers are people over-explaining things to me, feeling like I’m over-worked and not rising to the occasion of my own life, as a father, as an artist. Now I’ll go and meditate instead of reacting to a situation. I usually meditate for 12 minutes.That’s my magic number.”
A year ago, he paid the price for skipping his psoriasis medication for eight weeks while recording the first series of The Greatest Dancer, before jetting to Japan to do a week of live concerts.
“I receive my prescriptions in the mail and didn’t have it over here, so I didn’t have my medicine for two months and during my last week of the show I got shingles,” he says, adding that being run down, stressed and away from his family in LA were all contributing factors to developing the rash and fever.
The episode made Matthew realise he can’t drop the ball with his medication.
“I’m susceptible to stress and that’s why I need to do all this stuff,” he says. “If I see a red patch breaking out on my skin, that’s usually telling me that I probably should take a shot.”
It was at the peak of his psoriasis troubles that Matthew met singer, model and interior designer Renee, at a GrammyAwards party.They married in October 2014.
“Although she didn’t have any answers, she was very supportive in whatever I needed,” says the star, who has just released his album Disney Dreamin’ With Matthew Morrison.
“She came into my life at the right time. She helped me through the hardest time of my life and I knew from that moment that our bond was so real because she was with me for me.”