From Soap Operas to Skincare, Kelly Kruger on Reinventing Beauty Standards

0:00Hey guys, welcome back to Skin Anarchy. I'm so excited about our episode today because we're going to be talking a lot about some very important topics that are near and dear to my heart personally. But also, our guest has such an amazing place that she's coming from in the space of what I like to call clean living and mindful living, and especially the way that we're consuming beauty products and wellness products. So without me ranting too much, I'd love to introduce you guys to Kelly Kruger, who is an actress, an entrepreneur, and the founder of Madison Charles Oil. So welcome, Kelly. I'm so excited to host you.

0:34Hi, my goodness. I'm so excited to be here. Big fan of your show as well. So this is really exciting. Yeah, no, it's an honor to host you. And I, you know, I'm glad that you have such a versatile career and background, you know, and I feel like that's so it really reflects in what you've created in your line. And I'm going to talk about that with you because I have some of my own personal testimonials, you know, to give you about that. But I'd love to learn more about you, Kelly, if you could kind of walk us down memory lane and tell us about, you know, your acting career and everything that led up to creation, you know, creating Madison Charles and yeah, all the good stuff.

1:08So yeah, I was born in Montreal. So I'm Canadian. I knew that I wanted to be an actress from as for as long as I could remember. I had a pretty difficult childhood. And I used to use film as like an escape. And I used to kind of watch the same movies over and over go up into my room reenact the scenes. And it was such a, it was such a great escape. But more so than anything, I found I would turn to film and television. and, you know, actors that I admired to help me through like my hardest periods. And I always said from a very young age that at some point, that's what I wanted to do with my life, which is, you know, help anyone going through a hard time, whether it's through a role that I create where, you know, a character starts in a very dark or low place and then has the arc and wins at the end, or, you know, just by what I could do with my life, somehow just have impact, especially on on young girls.

2:03So I basically barely finished high school. The year that I was graduating high school, I came up to LA. I have an aunt and uncle who live here. And I was just coming to kind of see what opportunities might be here. I was registered for what we call CGEP. It's kind of junior college in Montreal. And I came up for the summer and was approached by elite actually to to come and model, which is something I never wanted to do, but I used it as a stepping stone to, to basically just pursue my career as an actress. And I, you know, I started on The Young and the Restless and that was just such an incredible bootcamp.

2:45And not only just it's, it's, it's soap fans are unlike any other first off to this day. The reason why Madison Charles is possible is because of those same people. They follow you forever. They are loyal. They are just, they become this just giant family. So I started on the soap and being on a soap opera versus any other medium is, it really is bootcamp because you are filming, you know, 80 pages of dialogue a day versus on a primetime show or a film, you're doing maybe like 10 a day, right? So it's just an incredible place to start, but it does throw you into really instant fame in that world, right?

3:28Yeah. At a very young age. So all of a sudden, everybody knows who you are. Especially then, soaps were a very big deal. Much bigger, obviously, than they are today. I remember watching Young and the Restless, like, religiously. Like, I used to watch every day. You did? Yeah. I mean, I think I watched very early on. like you know I was pretty young at the time but like I remember my mom and I both used to sit down and be like no this is this is Young and the Restless time like you know like we need to watch and that's that's the beauty of being on a show like Young and the Restless is that it is a way for like parents and children they watch it together grandchildren grandparents like it's generational yeah what's so cool today is that the people that I have part of my community you have the grandparents you have the the the daughters and then the granddaughters they're all like oh my grandmother watched you and or my mother watched you know whatever it is and it's such a it's such a like it's the only medium that really brings entire generations together yeah yeah it's very powerful yeah I love that I love that you said that because it is it also like I don't know it's like really like kind of like girl time like I whenever I think about like moments that you spend with like your mother or like what you were saying your mother your grandmother like a lot of it is tied to things like that like soap operas are a huge part of it I feel like for a lot of people you know like that exclusive time yeah you know what's so cool is when I was little I used to go to summer camp like a sleepaway camp yeah I'll never forget I'm talking I was super young like you know under 10 at this point and you know I had a friend who her mom every week would send her soap opera digest like what is this she's like oh I need to know, I need to know what's happening on my soap.

5:11I can't miss. And I remember being so impacted by that. Like there was a fan who was so dedicated that she couldn't go a summer without having weekly recaps. And so then years later, when I ended up on, on the soap, I was like, wow, this is so interesting. Like people are so invested and you're in their living room every single day. And again, this really goes back to having an impact on, you know, whether it's you're watching with your mom and you guys are just having that quality time together, or maybe you're going through something and that's your escape for that hour a day. Or maybe there's a storyline that's motivating you or inspiring you in some way, or you're relating to, or it's helping you or, you know, and so it's more so than the idea of act as much as I love the craft of acting, I love breaking down a script and I love, you know, getting into character.

6:05I love that part of it. But I think for me, it's really the outcome of what that creation does for people rather than the act itself, if that makes sense. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I mean, I feel like, I mean, especially if you're filming so much, you're constantly immersed. I mean, what you said really kind of that hit home with me because I feel like in medicine I mean I've experienced that in my own career where it's like when you're doing something so much you know what I mean and it's such a huge part of your life where this is this your career you know you do this like day in and day out all the time it becomes so much more than just a job you know it becomes it becomes a lot of things and I feel like you know so much stems from that right it's like all of I'm sure all the feedback that you probably got from fans I mean how was that in terms of shaping like the, you know, what you did next in your career?

6:58I mean, sure. You took a lot away from that in that regard. Well, it's interesting because the first round, so I was very young the first time and I was a recast. I took over for someone. And as you know, as someone who watches or who watched soaps, people don't really welcome recasts very, very tough world. It's really hard. So the first time around, it was sort of like 50 % of the audience absolutely despised me. And 50 % of the obvious audience loved me. People who didn't like the original actress who portrayed Mackenzie. So, so that was interesting and learning about, this is obviously well before social media and just learning about how to handle, you know, public, I don't want to use the word hate, but you know, opposition or whatever, like people who are, you know, what we call today keyboard warriors who just will just say anything and they don't realize that there's an actual person there that, you know, is, is, is actually receiving this, But so that was my first run with it.

7:57And then I started moving on to other mediums and noticing that those same people were following me to these other mediums. Like, you know, if I was doing a guest star on Criminal Minds, it's I would get, you know, emails from people saying, oh, my God, well, you know, whatever it was like. So the same people would follow me to if I had a Hallmark movie. It's just, it's the same people following and supporting and championing. In 2014, I was auditioning a lot. And it was like at the point where I was getting really close on things, I got a movie here. And then you're just sort of waiting around for auditions and you're waiting around for, first you need to get the audition, then you have to get the callback.

8:40Then you need to wait for the producers to decide that you're the one that they want. And then from there, you have to go to network and from network studio, you know, there's so many people deciding whether I get to have an impact on people today, whether I get to make a difference, whether I get to do my passion. So in 2014, I just got fed up and it wasn't very popular to do a blog. It was very unpopular for an actress to have a blog or to post on social media about beauty or fashion or, or anything like that, because it was considered very cheesy. Like if you're an actor, you're an actor if you're an influencer you're an influencer right yeah that's yeah so I started this blog and I was like I don't care because I have a lot of knowledge about I battled with acne I battled with acne while I was at the you know on tv every single day with loads of makeup I I understood I've always lived very healthy and very clean just naturally like my body just naturally rejects things that later on we find out are bad for us.

9:43It's pretty cool because I'm very sensitive, but I also paid attention very young. I remember when Sheryl Crow was diagnosed with breast cancer, she was talking about how she was really certain that it was due to leaving plastic water bottles in her car, them heating up and her drinking the water and all the BPAs and everything. I was very young and I remember thinking, wow, I have two dogs and those two dogs, Maddie and Charlie, which is Madison Charles. They prior to them, my ex partner had a few dogs that had passed away from cancer. And I kind of correlated. I was like, I wonder if the water has something to do with that.

10:23Like the, the, the piping and whatever. So I started only giving those dogs filtered water and I started really cleaning up what they ate because they were my life. You know what I mean? Yeah. So funny enough, like they became as interesting as you might think, like, of course, Madison, Charles, you know, Maddie and Charlie were my, my everything. They're no longer with us today, but Maddie was a pug who lived to be 17. And Charlie was a boxer who lived to be 14, which is pretty unheard of, like, especially in the, you know, those are, that's very long. Yeah. That's really good. That's amazing years.

10:59Yeah. And I, I had always said, if I started a line, I would name it Madison Charles because I love the name, but also to honor them. But really, when I really think back to all of this, it really is like they were the epitome of health and clean living. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So so I started this blog and I started sharing, you know, products that I love that work for me because my whole mentality was if I could save someone time and money, like my whole thing to this day is let me try it so you don't have to. I'm trying every product so that I could bring you the best, the best and let you know what actually works.

11:30I am going to share all of my journeys with you so that you don't feel alone as, and I realized, and I'm going to be very honest. I had a lot of people make fun of me for this. A lot of people who I would say, Hey, could you just support me on social media? Because I'm trying to get some brand deals. And if you could just leave an emoji, cause engagement is important and like friends would not even help me. Cause it was like, wow. You know, that's yeah. That's lame by the way. Honestly, it was really disappointing. And I would hear people kind of make fun of like my blog and just like how cheesy it was.

12:05Right. For lack of a better word. And I just saw, like, I had this vision of like, if I could help one person that was, that's part of my, why I do anything, right. Is, is I want to help people. So if I can help one person who's battling with something that I might be battling with, or that I might've gone through, well then I'm doing what I was put here to do do you know what I mean yeah that's that's really powerful though because you said a couple of things I want to actually touch on that because I you know this is such a good opportunity to share with our listeners because you mentioned for example like your journey with acne right and I feel like I'm very passionate about this when it comes to actors because I look at you guys and I I kind of try to see the other side of like the glitz and the glamour I've always been like that and it and because I feel like people are so quick to look at celebrities and be like oh well you guys are just you know you get all of the best treatments your skin is amazing everything's amazing because you have all this access to all this stuff but then it's like you like why don't we ever talk about the fact that exactly what you said like you're putting on makeup it's like you know every single day you're being harsh on your body you're doing things that are going to actually need maintenance you know what i mean and because of that you go through and you have to end up you end up trying things right i mean i'm sure you've had to like try different products whether it's makeup products or whatever it was and and that really does i mean it leads you to this place of like curating you've curated through your acting career a lot of the things that work and that don't work and i think that's awesome you know that's a really good resource so that for the people who were making fun of you for having a blog you know what I mean that to me is moronic you know because it's like I would take advice from you any day because you've actually had to use this stuff you know and you've had to use products and you've had to find what works and it not just for your own lifestyle but for your career you know and it's it's I think that's so crazy to me that they weren't supportive because well the fans were I'm talking about more people in my life the fans were super supportive they were so excited to have you know insight insight and access to that but but i'm talking about more like people yeah the friends and the fans yeah yeah yeah the fans were have always been amazing and they've been so receptive to anything i try they're like they're supporting me and that's what's so beautiful about this community and why i love social media so much is the the interaction and the direct feedback especially with the oils which i'll get to in a second but just to touch on that, sometimes you'll be on a set.

14:40And, and also when I was very young, I didn't understand ingredients, right? Like I didn't understand that if I'm putting talc on my acne prone skin, that's clogging my pores more. I didn't understand that I might be allergic to fragrance that's making me break out or there's, there's silicones or I didn't understand. So the research that I had to do to get to the bottom of, you know, it's also what you're putting in your body. What are you eating? What are you allergic to? What, what, what, how often are you washing your pillowcase? How often are you, you know, how are you, what are you washing your hair with?

15:11Like, there are so many things that go into acne. How are your hormones? Are you imbalanced? Are you, you know, and there's just, it's not like a one size fits all. So having done all this research and really, I met with this, I started going for, for facials when I was trying to really just fix this problem with my acne. Right. And it was a woman who was, she made all her own products. She had this tiny little space and her mom was a breast cancer survivor. And she started explaining to me about our endocrine system and just how certain ingredients, what they could do and how bad they are for us and how I might be reacting to, let's say, the fragrance or whatever it is, right?

15:59And it really got me interested as somebody who is a pretty bad student in school. It really got me interested in the science behind things and the ingredients in things. And I started really learning to read labels and people really don't think about that. Sometimes people with acne will literally just like I did go and load up their skin with acne products that are ridiculously drying and then they're over drying their skin. So their skin's producing more oil and in turn, they're breaking out more. So it's really about understanding. And again, it's not a one size fits all, but if I could share this in a place where I could give people options and help them and I'm doing it for free, you know, it's, it's such a gift, right?

16:46So, so yeah, so that was, that was a interesting thing. And I just, I continued, I, I, you know, I, I stuck with it because well, A, my now husband at the time, who's my boyfriend, he was incredibly supportive and really just was like, keep going, keep going. I worked for free for a very, very, very long time in that world, right? Yeah. I would go on sets and I would always do behind the scenes. And again, it wasn't cool. It wasn't cool to vlog. Like it just wasn't a cool thing for actors to do. And so I wanted to kind of bring the world of beauty slash, you know, blog, social media to, to actors.

17:27Cause remember the mystery behind an actors today, obviously you have to have social media and you have to be connecting with your audience in order to be successful. But back in the day, the more privacy, the better, because the more people believed you in different roles, right? You don't want to reveal too much of your life or your personal life when you were an actor, because it could prevent you prevent the audience from seeing you play different roles. Right. Yeah. Yeah. It's like overall image. Yep. Yeah. So I just didn't care. I was like, whatever. So you're, you're going to, you know, I don't know.

18:03I just, I kind of just, because my why to be an actress was very different than my friends or the people around me. I just really stuck with it. And years later, I was trying to conceive my first child. And I assumed that because I, you know, was completely healthy, regular period, it's like everything that I was just going to get pregnant. I just assumed that that was going to be me. And when it didn't happen right away, I freaked out, not understanding too, that like happening right away could mean like within the first three months. But for me, I was like, if it doesn't happen the first time, something's wrong.

18:39Yeah. Yeah. And I think like the guidelines now are like, you know, it's like a year if you've been trying for a year and it doesn't happen, you know, That's when you need to go to your doctor because something's wrong. Absolutely. But I didn't know that. Okay. So I just assumed, oh, I'm just someone who's just going to get pregnant. Yeah. I think a lot of women do. Yeah. And so I went down this crazy rabbit hole and there was a book called It Starts With An Egg. And it explained that you could change the, you cannot change obviously the number of eggs you have, but you can change the egg quality.

19:13And that stems from complete lifestyle. So that's what you're eating. That's what you're putting on your skin. That is all lifestyle. Your egg quality is directly related to your lifestyle. And then your endocrine system and the way your body obviously is operating also is directly related to your lifestyle because even stress and hormones, it all coincides, right? Yeah. It's a huge, huge... And this is something that I'm very very you know i was like being in medicine i'm very passionate about the endocrine system as weird as that sounds because no one wants to discuss this topic really at its root which is the idea that every single organ system every single function and mechanism in your body is going to be impacted by your hormones yes point blank period there is no exception to that rule Like it's and that's where this concept of or not even concept, this topic of endocrine disruption, the fact that it's now coming up in the beauty and wellness space is so intriguing to me as a scientist, because I look at this and I'm like, OK, well, it's about damn time, you know, that we're talking about this, because there's women in the South who've been using hair products for, you know what I mean?

20:30like, I don't know, 10, 15 years, and they did these studies where, like, they were using these, you know, ridiculously preserved products for a prolonged period of time. Every single one of those women ended up with fibroids or endometriosis or something really, really critical. And, you know, and now we're coming to a point in the beauty and wellness industry where people are like, oh, yeah, you know, endocrine disruptors and people are talking about it like a buzzword. But, you know, Kelly, it's not a buzzword. It's not. It's a real thing that impacts everyday day women, you know, everyday people like you can't like that.

21:02This is one of my biggest, you know, pet peeves. I feel like with this stuff, it's like, this is real, you know, and it's, it's very, very old. It's been around for a long time. So I'm glad that you're, I'm glad that you're bringing this to the forefront. Actually, this is very important. Yeah. You know, it's also interesting that you're bringing that up too, because, you know, I talk about, you know, when I brought up the water thing, right. That, that, that, that's been a big thing because that is of course an endocrine disruptor those bpas and that plastic and you heat that and those chemicals like that is affecting your health and your overall like it's affecting your hormones it's affecting all of it my grandmother there was never a meal that she ate that wasn't home cooked like her and it was you know european cooking and as a child i used she was very influential on me and my mom raised me like it's better to have natural than it or to have fresh than it is to have canned or packaged or, and so I think I just naturally just, it's just kind of been ingrained in me, but I'll be honest, like my grandmother had such an impact on me.

21:59I mean, waste way. I'm telling my mom today, don't do this, don't do that, you know, but, but, but just the, the, how to cook, you know, we cook, I cook every single day for my children and I know that's not realistic for a lot of people. And, and, and I understand that, but you know, I was talking to someone the other day, she gets up at five 30 just so that she could prepare her meals because she understands the importance of that. So if it's important to you, you will make the time as hard as it is. And look, some people don't care. Some people are just like, you live once, like enjoy your life.

22:34If it ends early, at least I enjoyed it. Like there are, there is that mentality and that's totally fine. I just could tell you that from a personal standpoint, I have physically experienced, you know, I have a gluten allergy, which I feel like everybody has a gluten allergy today because our gluten is so the gluten, our bodies are not meant to digest, right? No, we're not. Yeah. And it's not just gluten anymore either, Kelly. It's like, they've got so much crap in these products now. So much and the glyphosate and all the things. And, you know, I used to be tired all the time. Like I couldn't function after a meal.

23:10And I will say when I took gluten out of my diet is when my acne cleared up because it's so inflammatory. And, you know, I was seeing an acupuncturist who, you know, it's, it's interesting how she did it. She, she didn't tell me what not to eat. She just told me what to eat. And after a certain amount of time, I realized what wasn't in my diet and she cleared up, she balanced my hormones. Everything was freshly cooked, you know, everything that she wasn't having me have anything packaged. She wasn't having me. It was so interesting. And then I went to an allergist and that's when I found out that I actually am in fact allergic to gluten, wheat, like all the things that she took out of brewers.

23:50She told me not to drink wine. And I said, Oh, okay. Like I knew I was always allergic to red wine, but she took out white wine. I'm allergic to the brewers yeast. I didn't even know that, but all of these things were causing my acne. And then it is like a matter of, you know, for some people, like you can pick your poison. Like if you want to, you know, it's not about, I have, I'm a Scorpio and I'm very like black or white. There's no grave for me. So, you know, so to some people, this is, I am very, I don't even want to use the word annoying, but there's like a lot of, a lot of opposition because it's like, you know, it's too much, but it's like at the end of the day, what's important to you.

24:28Right. For me, having energy, feeling good, having a clean body, having not even just like physically, but it's like, you know, when you do have, let's say something like acne or eczema or some kind of inflammatory skin condition. You go through these experiences and you're like, so, or you don't want to leave the house without makeup because you're just insecure about your skin. Like it doesn't, it doesn't feel good. And I know people with like crazy cystic acne or, you know, just bad skin conditions that they don't even want to go out like to dinner because they're just feeling so low about the way they look.

25:00Right. It sounds, you know, vain or whatever, But it's, you know, you do, it does affect you. It becomes like something, especially when you're constantly being judged, you know, for us as actors, we're always on screen. We're always being ripped apart. You know, people will sooner want to like criticize, not my fans particularly, I'll say that. But in general, I just got very lucky with, you know, my career so far in that respect. But, you know, it is, you see on social media, it's just, it's hard. Yes. You know, I kind of want to take this opportunity for a segue into your oils. Oils. I love your oils and I love that you have so many because there is a real reason that this works.

25:44And I want to put this out there for all of our listeners because I'm a huge believer in aerotherapy. I always have been. I was the kid that was in the metaphysical shops. You know what I mean? When I was like 19 years old, looking up all the crystals and looking up, you know, like all these crazy things that people talk about. And I remember very early in my life, you know, I suffered my whole life with depression and anxiety. It was a never-ending battle. And I remember one of the first times where I felt relief was when I tried something through the power of scent, like, you know, the smell sense and the sense of smell.

26:15And when I tried your oils, I fell in love with it because they actually do help you. Like there's a real calming property to the ones that I really ended up loving. And that goes such a long way because it's not just like, okay, you do it now. Because I think we've fallen in love with that, you know, instant gratification culture of like, okay, this works for five seconds. And then it's just not going to work later on. What I loved is that I can put this on my wrists. I can put it behind my ears. And it's something that's going to soothe me for like literally for hours throughout my day, you know, and it's constant.

26:49And it's not something I have to ingest. So, yeah, let's talk about your oils. Where did you call the concept? So, yeah. So, so, so when I was trying to get pregnant, I learned about the, the, we really segued off that, but I learned about the egg quality and everything. And one of the main, one of the main things is fragrance, right? And so I realized that, you know, I used to wear perfume and everything was sent, but I did have an allergy to fragrance in general. I was shooting a movie and I got sick. My co-star and I both got sick and my makeup artist happened to be an aromatherapist. And so she handed me like all these oils and I could, we ingested some of them, you know, the safe ones.

27:27And I couldn't believe that I was working 14 hour night shoots with what you would usually put me out in bed for a week. I was, had energy. I was relieving my symptoms and I was like, oh, this is pretty interesting. And I still had, you know, trouble with my skin, acne, whatever. Okay. And so she was like, oh, I'm an aromatherapist. Let me tell you the oils that can help with that. And so I said, okay, but at first I was a little skeptical. I was like, wow, this is incredible, but I still was skeptical I got off the airplane that same trip from from working And I had a headache and the driver who was picking me up at the airport said, oh, I have this essential oil from france That will help with your headache, which by the way lavender typically doesn't help with headaches But me being you know me I was like putting it on my instagram story to show that my driver's making me inhale something and I wanted to make sure that I was okay.

28:18But I was like, that's kind of weird that I'm getting sort of oils. And then I get off the plane and he's suggesting oils. And I said, okay, maybe I'll look into this. And then I get back from filming the movie. And my sister-in-law, who is a yoga and Ayurveda specialist said, oh, I've been getting into these essential oils. I really, and I was like, okay, I need to take a look at this. This is crazy. This is like being slammed in my face that clearly essential oils is something I need to look into. So I started using them and just making blends for myself. And when I was trying to get pregnant and it wasn't happening, I was starting to eliminate all of these endocrine disruptors.

28:58So I refused to use anything with fragrance. I had to find a perfume. So I would make a roller that smelled amazing. And then all of a sudden you're getting these therapeutic benefits. And I was like, this is this is incredible. And, you know, sleep issues or my, I remember my, my now brother-in-law, he came to town and he was laying on the ground with my dogs and he started having a horrible allergy. He was sneezing and he got congested. And so I put together, which is now our breathe roller. And I just like put it together in a roller and I put it on. And 10 minutes later, I was like, how are your allergies?

29:30He was completely, they completely subsided. And so So I was like, there's something to this. So I started just making oils for my friends, my sister-in-law, who was the original, you know, she helped me start the line. She would, she was more of a specialist in the field. So she would help me come up with, you know, recipes and, and blends that would work. And I would, and I would just start, I just started getting really nerdy and becoming my own version of a scientist. Like, oh, cool. This is, and trial and error on my friends and my family. And then when I was on my journey and it wasn't happening, I, we got tested.

30:06Everything was fine. The only thing was speaking of fibroids, I had a, a, a seven centimeter fibroid. It wasn't preventing me from getting pregnant. Cause it was not in like blocking anything, but it definitely does affect somewhat, but I did have a huge fibroid, which we could talk about at a later date of like, just how that affected my pregnancy. It was like, I was carrying twins. It was very painful. That was something I really tried to bring awareness to, but I created a fertility blend and I started using this oil for the first two weeks of my cycle. And two months later I was pregnant. And I'm not saying that it was because of the oils.