Lili Reinhart Says Living with Acne as an Actress Was ‘Isolating’: ‘I Felt Like I Needed to Hide’ (Exclusive)

The 'Riverdale' star, who just launched a skincare brand, told PEOPLE that she used to feel “ashamed” about her skin

Lili Reinhart is opening up about the reality of living with acne as an actress.

While speaking exclusively to PEOPLE at the launch party of her new skincare line, Personal Day, in West Hollywood, Calif. on Tuesday, Nov. 12, Reinhart revealed that living with acne can be a lonely experience.

“Not a lot of celebrities have acne,” said the Riverdale star, 28, noting it can be “isolating.” 

“I just want to keep the conversation going and open and invite more people who are in the public eye to talk about it and continue creating that safe space,” she added.

The Hustlers star also shared that having acne as an adult can trigger feelings of shame from earlier periods in her life, recalling how she “felt like I needed to hide” because of her skin.

Related: 'Riverdale' 's Lili Reinhart Shuts Down Body Shamer: 'I'll Respond Later After I Finish My Double Cheeseburger'

“I think — and I'm realizing, even just realizing — that acne is a very triggering thing for me because it does bring me back to that place of, oh, I'm a 13-year-old girl again,” the mental health advocate said. “I feel out of control because there's so much going on in the world and so much s--- happening that you're like, 'I at least want to control my face and what it looks like for f---’s sake.' "

Reinhart explained that her experience with acne is what inspired her to create her Personal Day skincare brand.

“It really was a light-bulb moment for me when I realized that there wasn't a full line of acne care products that I felt that I could trust that didn't have bad ingredients in them,” the actress, who said she had tried Accutane twice, explained. 

The Look Both Ways actress also shared that her line contains luxury ingredients designed to heal your skin over time. “The more you use the products, the better it works,” she said, noting that acne isn’t something she believes should be “fixed.”

“Sometimes it's something you have your entire life,” she said, “so to tell people [to] fix something that they don't necessarily have control of is just the most isolating thing in the world. So again, as a brand, I think we're not trying to cure you. We're trying to help you heal,” she added.

Related: Lili Reinhart Claps Back at Bullies Saying She's Not 'Curvy' or 'Skinny Enough' to 'Feel Insecure'

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Reinhart also shared that the skincare company — which she co-founded with Shelagh Wong — worked with “the best in the beauty business” to bring the brand to life, adding that the company's board includes her personal aesthetician, Sarah Ford, as well as a mental health specialist who profoundly understands how acne can affect self-esteem. 

“I hope teenagers who experience acne feel like they're in a world that's a little bit more accepting just because when I was a kid, no one was talking about it. Certainly, no celebrity was talking about it,” she said.