People Are Attacking Kristin Cavallari For Not Wearing Sunscreen
On a recent podcast episode, actress-turned-entrepreneur Kristin Cavallari shared that she doesn't wear sunscreen. "Anytime I do an interview, I get a lot of sh*t when I admit that I don't," she told Dr. Ryan Monahan. Responses on X were mixed, with some agreeing with her decision and others calling Cavallari "irresponsible" and "stupid."
Cavallari, 37, is best known for her role on the popular television series Laguna Beach, but these days, she's busy running her Uncommon Beauty skincare brand and hosting the Let's Be Honest podcast.
On a recent episode, she chatted with her personal functional medicine doctor, Ryan Monahan, about her decision not to wear sunscreen. "Talk to me about the health benefits of the sun and why we maybe don't need sunscreen," Cavallari said, kicking off the conversation.
"It's a very controversial topic, which is so funny because it's the sun," Monahan answered. "Like, we've literally spent our whole existence as humans under the sun all day until the last, like, 100 years or so, and now we're, like, shut-ins, spend 93% of our lives indoors. That's really bad for a lot of reasons. The sun is life-giving and nourishing. However, we are living quite an inflammatory lifestyle, and that makes it really hard."
"Remember, I was talking about everybody has high levels of oxidative stress and inflammation," he went on. "So when you're internally inflamed, the sun can kind of aggravate that, and you don't have the antioxidants. You don't have the reservoir of antioxidants to combat that potential for oxidative stress, right? So if you live an anti-inflammatory lifestyle, you take a lot of antioxidant supplementation, and you work up your base coat in the sun, you can start to tolerate the sun instead of burning."
"I'm not saying just go from zero to 100 and spend five hours in the sun," he added. "Like, every spring, I start with, like, five minutes in the sun, work up to 10 minutes, 15, and then I build that, and by the end of summer, I'm in the sun for, like, the whole day without any sunscreen or anything like that. Astaxanthin is an antioxidant that is specific to the skin, and that can help. It's like an internal sunscreen."
The debates around the role and safety of sun exposure have been heating up in recent years, and depending on who you ask, Monahan's statements are either "obvious" and helpful or extremely "controversial." While most medical professionals agree that inflammation is at the root of many modern health problems, others strongly disagree with the notion that being unprotected from the sun for long periods is good when it comes to health or aging.
Most people can take a balanced approach that combines healthy sun exposure with protection when needed, but one X user stated that he was "incandescent with rage" because of Cavallari using her influence to spread "misinformation."
Others said the exchange included some "unsubstantiated claims" but also some legitimate concerns about some sunscreens.
Others wholeheartedly agreed with Cavallari and Monahan.
The rest of Cavallari's conversation with Monahan was just as "controversial," with the pair discussing everything from "why probiotics might not be the best thing for you" to why oat milk is "bad news" to the ways your phone might be harming your health.
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