Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan has opened up about his unusual port wine birthmarks, which he says he has done his best to hide during his more than 30 years in the public spotlight. But now, the 57-year-old is embracing them for the first time, citing the body positivity movement and a model with similar features as an example.
“I'm a fan of body positivity movements because at the end of the day it's about celebrating what makes us 'us,'” Corgan wrote in an Instagram post on Monday. She also shared a photo of a reddish birthmark covering her hand and arm, as well as a second photo of model Carlotta Bertotti, who is trying to challenge beauty standards with her own blue birthmark.
“As you can see, there is a beautiful young woman with a birthmark who embraces her 'difference' with grace,” Corgan explained.
“My point is, I've tried to hide my 'port wine' birthmarks my whole life, because as you can imagine, I was teased mercilessly for them as a child,” he continued, noting that even people who've known him for a decade were shocked when they finally noticed.
“And even now, strangers stop me on the street, not because they know me, but because they think I have a problem that needs medical attention,” Corgan claimed. The random questions he gets include whether he’s burned, whether he’s sick, whether it’s contagious or whether the scar hurts him.
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She ended her post with a positive message: “Whoever you are, I hope you find peace with yourself because: I want to know that person, not anyone else.”
Accordingly WebMDport wine birthmarks, also called “blotches,” are a type of vascular birthmark that occurs when chemical signals in small blood vessels do not “turn off,” causing the vessels to enlarge and the skin to turn red from the extra blood. About three in every 1,000 children are born with a port wine birthmark somewhere on their body.