Kelly Bensimon Was Scared to Pose for Playboy — But Not for the Reason You Might Think

Kelly Bensimon is getting real about the body issues she's struggled with throughout her life and modeling career. In fact, The Real Housewives of New York City alum isn't holding back one bit when sharing with fans her longtime battle with psoriasis.

“I’ve had psoriasis since I was a kid. I hated it. I found it so embarrassing. When I was a teen, I would spend hours in tanning beds, trying to get dark enough to cover it up. Not healthy! And not something I would recommend to anyone! But I was desperate. I thought that I couldn’t be pretty with this issue," she wrote on Twitter.

It wasn't until Kelly was booked for a very important modeling gig that things started to change for her. “Even as an adult, especially when I was modeling, I felt terrible about my skin. When I had a breakout, I wanted to hide from the world. So, when Playboy asked me to bare it all, there was a part of me that was scared — not because of the nudity, but because of the psoriasis!” she recalled about the 2010 photo shoot. “But a funny thing happened when I took off my clothes and got in front of that camera. I forgot about all my imperfections — I forgot about the itchies and flaws. I just felt… beautiful. Like, if Playboy thought I was beautiful, then maybe I really was! I realized that my flaws were part of my whole, and that my whole was pretty great! Showing so much allowed me to finally drop my [judgment].”

She added, "No one is perfect, of course. But after that day, I stopped focusing on what I thought was wrong, and started seeing myself as a whole."

In addition to her issues with her skin, Kelly also discussed her former insecurities with her feet. "We all have parts of our body we're insecure about - but the best thing we can do is accept them, embrace them even," she wrote. "My big feet are me!"

Check out throwback Kelly pics, below.