The legendary singer-songwriter and pop icon, Cyndi Lauper, has never been afraid to show her true colors throughout her four-decade career. Why would she be ashamed to share about the chronic condition she’s battled for many years?
Lauper first became a pop music sensation when she debuted her rainbow colored hair and her still underrated vocals by not-so-shockingly declaring “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” in 1983.
Lauper proved she wasn’t a fad, becoming the first female artist in history to have 4 different songs from a debut album peak in the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100 charts.
Those four songs — “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” followed by “Time After Time,” then the addictive, “She Bop,” and finally “All Through the Night,” — helped her debut album peak at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 album charts and helped her earn the 1985 Grammy for Best New Artist.
She was also instrumental — pun intended — in the Rock n’ Wrestling Connection that helped boost the world of wrestling entertainment to mainstream audiences, as she was featured in the original Wrestelmania with her support of Wendi Richter and Hulk Hogan.
Lauper continued her stardom throughout the 1980’s and is now a revered artist and an American treasure.
But the singer and activist began suffering from a skin disease in 2010. “It wasn’t just a rash for me,” she explained, “it was my whole body.” She finally decided to see a doctor, revealing she should have done so much sooner, and that’s when she was diagnosed with plaque psoriasis.
According to WebMD, “Doctors aren’t sure why people get psoriasis. It’s considered an autoimmune disease. That means your immune system attacks healthy cells as if it’s fighting an infection. This causes new skin cells to grow much faster than normal, and they build up in thick patches.”
Throughout the years, Lauper has used her platform as a way to bring attention to psoriasis, and the fact that 125 million people worldwide suffer from the disease.
There is no cure for psoriasis, but certain things can help minimize flare-ups, including protecting the skin barrier with moisturizer, applying prescription steroid creams, and practicing stress-reducing activities, sometimes as simple as taking a relaxing walk, though a lifestyle change is more likely to make a difference.
Lauper says she simply focuses more on herself, goes on walks, takes more baths, and avoids things that seem to trigger her psoriasis, including pasta and alcohol.
Despite her condition, Lauper now prepares for her Farewell Tour, which is also her first major tour in about a decade. It’s certain to be a bitter-sweet goodbye, though Lauper would likely prefer it to be viewed more as a celebration. The North American tour begins on Oct 18 in Montreal and concludes on Dec 5 in Chicago.
Fans will be happy to know that there is also a new documentary about the singer, titled Let the Canary Sing, which debuts June 4 on Paramount Plus.