Lili Reinhart is an empath. Her Instagram bio supplies the definition: “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.” The words “possible bladder/UTI infection” are found a few squares away – a rare glimpse of no-holds-barred humanity in Hollywood. Unlike most people, famous or not, the actor is uninterested in projecting a veneer of internet perfection. Beyond the cult fandom she earned from her time as Betty Cooper on “Riverdale,” Reinhart has nabbed ardent supporters for her authenticity, activism, and feminism (are we allowed to use that word again?).
Right now, empathy either feels Sisyphean or you don’t think about it. Reinhart falls into the former camp, and she’s springing into action. In November of last year, she launched a skin-care brand to revolutionize how treating acne feels. She silenced social media and chose roles according to her own rules. Today, her acting renaissance is well underway. In 25 minutes, we learned that 2025 belongs to Reinhart – and, with any luck, to empaths everywhere.
Reinhart deleted X from her phone to protect her peace and combat dopamine addiction. “It’s a cesspool and always has been,” she says. “I don’t want to stick around for that anymore – it’s not that I can’t handle it; I just don’t want to see it.” She’s earned fans who appreciate her candor and character, but she no longer trusts social media, except TikTok. “Any woman in the industry with a strong voice, the media helps create a narrative that they’re annoying, whiny, or ungrateful.”
It’s hackneyed to pair “Reinhart” with “claps back” in a headline – even the actor is fatigued by it. “Knowing when to use my voice and when to step away is something I’m still figuring out.” She knows she’s not alone: “Chappel Roan is scrutinized and villainized for simply having boundaries. It’s disgusting that people do that to her,” Reinhart says of Roan, who was recently criticized for urging record labels to provide health benefits to artists. “It happens to Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez,” she continues. (After sharing a video of herself crying with empathy for immigrants facing deportation, Gomez was criticized by the White House and politicians, who said she should be deported.)
The tactic for men who attack [women] online is going for their bodies, and that’s what the government apparently wants to do as well. I can’t imagine having Elon Musk put a claim on your body.
However passé the word feminism has become, Reinhart illuminates an age-old truth: “Women who have a voice and something to say are met with a world that perpetuates hate against them.” Unfortunately, the internet provides vast opportunities to harass women for anyone with zero to millions of followers. “The tactic for men who attack [women] online is going for their bodies, and that’s what the government apparently wants to do as well,” Reinhart says. “I can’t imagine having Elon Musk put a claim on your body.”
Even though she’s off X, Reinhart continues to inspire fans with her transparency. In late January, she shared her arduous journey to an interstitial cystitis diagnosis (hence the “bladder/UTI infection” post) on Instagram, urging followers to advocate for their own health. “Do not let a doctor gaslight you or diminish your pain,” she wrote.
Reinhart believes her mental health (she has been diagnosed with OCD and depression) affects her skin, citing a vicious cycle of stress causing breakouts that lead to more stress. “The way acne has manifested in my life is like the snake eating its own tail,” she says. After chronicling her experiences with breakouts, skin shame, and Accutane in the hopes that others feel seen, “people responded so positively, they thanked me.”
“Our mind and body are constantly talking to each other,” says Courtney Tracy, MD, a licensed psychotherapist and advisor for Reinhart’s brand, Personal Day. “Stress, anxiety, and lack of sleep can cause our body to release more stress hormones, like cortisol, which makes our skin oilier and more prone to breakouts. Dealing with acne can make us feel stressed, down, or even depressed. Our skin and mental health affect each other, and if we aren’t working on both at the same time, the cycle often continues out of control.”
Reinhart catapulted her efforts from awareness into action with Personal Day – a moniker so soothing one can envision an empire spanning the gamut of self-care. She intends to introduce customers to acne-inhibiting ingredients and concepts they haven’t had before, all under $40. Reinhart says of own parsimonious beauty routine: “I will splurge here and there, but I love a NYX eyebrow pencil ($11) and I use Aquaphor ($13) to remove makeup.”
Personal Day’s products feature ingredients like mevalonic acid, which regulates cellular metabolism while boosting collagen and growth factors, and formulas like a powder cleanser, which allows maximum potency and fewer preservatives. Reinhart endeavors to infuse ASMR into quotidian acts like washing your face, encouraging customers to be their own chemists, determining the right powder-to-water ratio for themselves. “From a sensory perspective, it’s an enjoyable experience to create that lather from powder in your hands,” she says.
The line, which launched in November 2024 with five products, will introduce Hypochlorous Acid Gel ($27) and Spray ($27), a bacteria-neutralizing facial mist and body spray on Feb. 27. Following efficacy, compassion, and empathy are Personal Day’s top pursuits. “Over time, our sense of well-being can become closely tied to how our face looks and we can obsess over trying to control our face just to control our sanity,” says Dr. Tracy.
The brand extends the ethos of cute pimple patches to your entire routine – picture a community fighting back against feeling powerless to their skin. “You can show up in whatever phase you’re in: if you’re happy with your skin, if you’re going through it, Personal Day is there for you as a silent partner in your routine,” says Reinhart. “If I woke up today with a huge pimple on my face, I would be like, ‘fuck yeah. All right, let’s go.’ Because I am not dirty.”
Reinhart has to be diligent with her reactive skin, and this precludes her from trying other celebrity beauty lines. “Everything I put on my face, I check the ingredients.”
To make that easy for you to do yourself, Personal Day’s website includes an ingredient checker, where you can submit the ingredient list for everything from your foundation to your perfume to see their potential for clogging pores. (We tested it by plugging in a brightening serum, and it pinpointed exactly one breakout-triggering ingredient: Citrus Aurantium Bergamia Peel Oil.) And though she declines to test them, Reinhart respects the beauty lines of her peers. “I know how hard it is to raise your hand in that space and have people automatically assume you’re in it for a cash grab.”
Reinharts action-oriented year extends to her initial passion: acting. “I raise my hand for body horror roles and also just stories by women about women,” she says. “I’m trying to tell stories that a lot of people don’t want to tell, which are women’s stories.”
I’m trying to tell stories that a lot of people don’t want to tell, which are women’s stories.
“The Substance” was her favorite movie of last year, and she says she would “die” to work with director Coralie Fargeat someday. [“The Substance”] is so brilliant. I sat across from and met Demi Moore last year in Sweden at a fashion show, and she had her little dog Pilaf; she was the sweetest ever.”
Reinhart is earning rave reviews herself for her role in the television series “Hal and Harper,” which premiered at Sundance and currently boasts a 9.3 rating on Rotten Tomatoes. And her horror ambitions are becoming a reality: she was recently cast in an intriguing new role. Starring opposite Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All At Once”) in “Bad Boy,” she’ll portray a woman whose captor’s dog is trying to save her; the story is told from the dog’s perspective.
“People have been a little bit like, ‘Where have you been as an actress the last few years?’ I prioritize working with women every single step of the way. That’s why it’s taking a really long time, but it’s worth the fight,” says Reinhart.
“I am an actress and I’m working on it.”
Alana Peden is an award-winning executive storyteller, strategist, and brand shaper. She cut her teeth in print (at magazines like InStyle and More) before holding senior digital positions (at Penske Media Corporation and Bustle Digital Group). In 2017, she conceived and launched Elite Daily’s fashion and beauty verticals. More recently, she served as the editor in chief at StyleCaster.
