Georgia Toffolo opens up about her ‘all-consuming’ acne battle and reveals how it affected her confidence

Georgia Toffolo has opened up about her struggle with acne and how it has affected her confidence. 

The former Made In Chelsea star, 29, has previously spoken about her ‘all-consuming battle’ with the skin condition after first suffering from it as a teenager. 

Georgia – nicknamed Toff – has partnered with Philips for a new confidence-boosting campaign, and has begun to reflect on her own confidence journey as a result. 

The I’m A Celebrity winner said her jungle experience – where makeup is famously considered a luxury item and is not worn – was the start of her ‘weird little journey’ with her skin. 

And as she returned to the South Africa All Stars series in 2023, Toff once again went bare-faced on TV. 

In an interview with MailOnline, she admitted: ‘I was really nervous about doing that. 

‘And it was so weird. I thought that my skin would have been a lot better, but it wasn’t. 

‘Over the years I’ve figured out that, actually, all of the tests that I’ve had, everything I’ve tried skin flare ups, very connected to stress levels.’

She previously said she didn’t feel totally herself on the show without her ‘war paint’ and being able to cover up with concealer as she suffered a flare-up during filming.   

Toff has now partnered with Philips to celebrate the launch of the new Sonicare DiamondClean Prestige 9900 and its accompanying confidence-boosting campaign.

Toff – who has been very open about her own confidence journey – has been helping to boost the confidence of others, sharing research that the average Brit needs an average of 16 boosts a month to feel their best.  

These can include having freshly brushed teeth, getting compliments and getting the right answer to a quiz question. 

She continued: ‘I’ve spoken about it quite a lot with this campaign, which has been wonderful.

‘I’ve always tried to divert people’s attention to my smile, which I’ve always loved, as opposed to maybe some of the more severe acne that I’ve had around my cheeks. 

‘This campaign that I’m working on and the diamond clean prestige has just been like a dream for me because I honestly think faking it until you make it with a smile is one of the most powerful things that you can do because it’s like an outward showing.’

Despite her struggles in the past, Toff said she is now ‘feeling good’ and ‘confident’. 

She continued: ‘My skin was something that made me feel less than confident, really. 

‘I had a bit of light trolling when I came out of the jungle. But I did this amazing feature on This Morning and it was really simple: I just took off my makeup.

‘I was so worried about what people would say about my acne. But I just carried on. I looked down the barrel of the camera. I said some of the nasty things that I’ve read across socials, and it had such an impact. 

‘From that day on, the trolling seemed to evaporate.’

Toff previously revealed she used to ‘live in fear’ of people finding out how severe her acne was at the height of her breakouts when she was younger.

The former MIC favourite told in her ITV documentary In Search Of Perfect Skin how she had a ‘horrendously low opinion of herself’ at the time.  

She said she would get up super early every morning to have enough time to cover herself in layers of makeup. 

In June she revealed that she was receiving Potenza treatment, which she explained would help with acne scarring by using radiofrequency and microneedling technology.