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If you look through pictures of Smashing Pumpkins, you’ll find that Billy Corgan is not often photographed in short sleeves. There’s a reason he tends to favor long sleeves, and it’s not just because that was part of the de facto uniform for grungy bands in the ’90s. The musician went viral last week after sharing a photo displaying the large “port wine” birthmarks on his left arm and hand, which he said he was “teased unmercifully” over as a kid. He did not expect as many people to care as they did! And so he shared more of his thoughts about it in a follow-up Instagram post over the weekend.
In a series of videos, Corgan said he felt inspired to talk about his birthmark after coming across the Instagram page of Italian model Carlotta Bertotti, who has a large birthmark on her face (the two have since gotten in touch, and Corgan said she sent him a nice letter). He also explained how birthmarks like his form when blood vessels don’t properly form in the womb. He continued:
Having grown up born in 1967, never in a million years was I told that something like this was beautiful or could be additive to who I was. I’ve been asked thousands of times — and oftentimes very rudely — “Do you have a disease?” “What the hell’s wrong with you?” When it’s really cold in Chicago, the birthmark turns dark purple, so people literally walk up and say “I think you should go to the hospital.” “Are you a burn victim?” “Does it hurt?” And so when you’re young, and as anyone knows, anything that separates you from the pack is painful. And so from my earliest memories people were making fun of me, teasing me, and adding all sorts of ideas as to what my birthmark represented.
It’s amazing that something that has always been in my mind a negative, in this case not only became a positive in terms of sort of my journey to embrace some part of myself I’ve always been uncomfortable with. But now I’m getting tons of messages from people who have birthmarks or have children with birthmarks saying “thank you.” That’s the type of positive affirmation that we need in this culture… I’ve always been reluctant to talk about it because there are people with more challenging situations.
I’m at a point in my life where I don’t need the positive affirmation. It’s nice. But if it’s the type of thing that maybe would make other young people in particular feel comfortable, that makes me feel good. When you’re a parent — even, heck, when you’re adult — you never stop learning. And so I learned a little bit of something this week about myself and about the world. And I love seeing people of all backgrounds, all shapes and sizes being celebrated for who they are.
And it’s very much, if you can imagine, coming out of DIY culture, that’s kind of what we embraced all the way back in the ’80s. That’s what punk rock was for. That’s what post-punk was about — just embracing who you are. And yet after all these years being called a weirdo and all these things, I’m still working towards fully embracing the way that God made me. So, I hope that helps anybody.
So, there you have it: Birthmarks are punk. See Corgan’s original post about his, and the follow-up post below.