Please leave Delta Goodrem's face alone.

Image: Getty

Sometimes bad skin happens to good people. In fact, sometimes bad skin happens to all people. Which is why it’s so disappointing to see close cropped photos of celebrities’ faces, created for the sole purpose of scrutinising their complexion imperfections.

It’s awful, it’s mean, it’s unnecessary – thank God it doesn’t happen to us mere mortals, right? But unfortunately, it’s all too common for people Australian singer/songwriter and The Voice judge  Delta Goodrem.

A spot of weekend shopping in Sydney was enough to land the 30-year-old on the Daily Mail‘s homepage yesterday.

“The singer and actress appeared to try and disguise her complexion with a considerable amount of foundation and a slick of bright purple lipstick … [she] appeared to have been a little heavy-handed with her base and bronzer,” the article read.

“However it’s quite possible that the talented musician and TV personality may be suffering from an allergic reaction to a facial or beauty product or even something she ate.”

Great. Helpful.

Sadly it’s not the first time Delta’s skin has been dragged into the spotlight, and she’s far from the only celebrity to receive this treatment. Here are the photos and headlines that followed Delta’s appearance at the 2014 ARIA Awards:

The same thing happened to Solange Knowles on her wedding day last year.

The singer danced her heart out, got a bit hot and broke out in hives. And that's just fine. But of course, pap shots leaked, accompanied by gleeful headlines like "BREAKING OUT!"

Cameron Diaz has copped it many times over the years. So too have Katy Perry and Britney Spears.

This thing is, having something go wrong with your skin is stressful and it's hard to hide. It has a significant impact on your emotional state. A study published by the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology found that young people who suffered from acne had "significantly more depressive symptoms, lower self-attitude, more feelings of uselessness, fewer feelings of pride, lower self-worth, and lower body satisfaction than those without acne."

Emma Freedman: "The worst skin of my life, and how I fixed it."

What's more, acne will affect around 85% of young people at some stage. We're biologically programmed to be creeped out by bad skin, because it could be the sign of an infectious disease. But we're also socially aware enough to know that a few pimples are neither life threatening nor contagious.

It's up to us to acknowledge why we might have an 'instant recoil' trigger when it comes to acne - and then disarm it. That's why it's so awesome to see people like Lorde and Tavi Gevinson proudly flaunting their breakouts.

And that's also why it's so shitty to see Delta Goodrem being attacked for something she can't help. Sometimes, when tabloids write about a star's skin, it's like their pimples are somehow indicative of a moral failing. Like there's some sort of deeper story there. Delta doesn't just have spots, she has "angry-looking, stressed out skin".

"All I did was pop a pimple; then a staph infection ate my face."

While factors like stress and poor diet can show up on your face, they're not the only reason why people break out. And having a breakout certainly isn't a tell tale sign that your life is falling apart. All it tells is that you're a human, with hormones, like any other human.

Yes, it's nice to have great skin. But when your skin isn't great, having a million people point that fact out does nothing for no one.

So next time a star is photographed (consensually, that is), feel free to go the dress. Say what you like about the eyeliner. But leave the skin alone. After all, you've got no idea when your next breakout might be.

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