Body Hair, Don't Care! Stars Who Aren't Shy About Showing Off Their Underarm and Leg Hair

Emma Corrin

Posing on the June/July 2024 cover of Harper’s Bazaar’s Freedom Issue, Emma Corrin sported a Miu Miu tank top and briefs, proudly displaying their grown-out armpit hair.

The Crown star hasn’t directly addressed the online criticism of their unshaven appearance but spoke to Harper’s Bazaar about receiving hate on social media in 2021 for identifying as non-binary and later changing their pronouns on Instagram.

“The vitriol is worse than I anticipated,” Corrin said. “Even though we like to think we’re in a progressive society, a lot of what we’re seeing is increasingly a step back.”

Rachel McAdams

In 2023, McAdams asked Bustle to only minimally retouch her photos, letting her armpit hair be on full display, as well as her real curves.

“With this shoot, I’m wearing latex underwear,” she told the outlet. “But I’ve had two children. This is my body, and I think that’s so important to reflect back out to the world.”

The Oscar-nominated actress — who was on hand to promote the 2023 film Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret — recalled another shoot she did in 2017 where she wore her breast pump in the photos, telling Bustle, “I love that juxtaposition of beauty, glam, fantasy and then truth.”

Bekah Martinez

After opening up about embracing her body — hair and all — in 2019, mom and former Bachelor contestant Bekah Martinez spoke on the topic again in 2020, saying she wants to create a space for her daughter to grow up feeling like she can embrace her body hair in the same way.

Martinez posted a photo with her toddler daughter, Ruthie Ray, on Instagram that showed her unshaven legs and explained why she chose to keep posting photos of her legs.

“My daughter (and every other person for that matter) deserves to live in a world where they can exist in their natural body without feeling disgusting,” she wrote alongside the snap. “My family will not be a family that passes down shame about weight, body hair, breast size, acne, height or any of the other millions of things we’re taught are ‘unattractive.’ At the same time I will never tell my children they can’t change their appearance. I can only help them navigate and process why they want to, as I have done for myself.”

Ashley Graham

Getting candid about life as a new mom and postpartum recovery, model Ashley Graham shared a photo of her body a few weeks after welcoming her first child, Isaac Menelik Giovanni Ervin, with husband Justin Ervin, in January 2020. In a black tank and gray disposable underwear, Graham snapped a bathroom selfie with her arm raised — also flaunting her grown-out armpit hair.

“Raise your hand if you didn’t know you’d be changing your own diapers too,” she wrote on Instagram. “No one talks about the recovery and healing (yes, even the messy parts) new moms go through. It’s been tough.”

A year later, Graham designed her own limited edition razor with the personal care brand Flamingo.

“My philosophy has always been: shave what you want, wax what you want, leave what you want — do what works for you,” she said in a statement on the site.

Emily Ratajkowski

In a personal essay for Harper’s Bazaar in 2019, Ratajkowski posed with unshaven armpits and opened up about her femininity.

“On any given day, I tend to like to shave, but sometimes letting my body hair grow out is what makes me feel sexy,” she wrote.

She continued, quoting author Roxane Gay, “There is no right answer, no choice that makes me more or less of a feminist, or even a ‘bad feminist.’ Ultimately, the identity and sexuality of an individual is up to them and no one else.”

Halsey

Halsey posed for the July 2019 cover of Rolling Stone, and fans were quick to call her out in the comments for her unshaven underarms. However, pal Demi Lovato came to her defense, writing, “There so much yes about this picture idk where to start 🙌🏼”

Madonna

Madonna was one of the early celebs who ditched the razor. In 2014, she shared a selfie of her unshaven armpit, writing, “Long hair…… Don’t Care!!!!!!”

“I saw how popular girls had to behave to get the boys. I knew I couldn’t fit into that,” Madonna told Harper’s Bazaar in 2011. “So I decided to do the opposite. I refused to wear makeup, to have a hairstyle. I refused to shave. I had hairy armpits.”

Her daughter, Lourdes Leon, has followed in her mother’s footsteps when it comes to underarm care! Madonna shared a pic with Leon on New Year’s Eve in 2017, where the then-21-year-old showed off her hairy underarms.

Lourdes Leon

Leon made headlines in November 2018 for wearing a gauzy, white mini dress that showed off her unshaven legs when she arrived at the swanky CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund event. Her sheer white dress also exposed her right breast under a sheer panel.

Two months prior, Leon made an unexpected catwalk appearance on the Gypsy Sport runway wearing a very risqué outfit that exposed her unshaven legs. She modeled seashell pasties with several seashell-adorned body chains and high-waisted underwear, which peeked out above her low-rise, tattered jeans that showed off most of her leg hair.

In 2021, Leon displayed her armpit hair in a Marc Jacobs campaign and at the Met Gala.

Julia Roberts

Julia Roberts memorably showed off her unshaven underarms at the 1999 London premiere of Notting Hill. On a November 2018 episode of Busy Tonight, she finally explained the reason behind the hairy situation.

“The picture is vivid in my mind, actually, from that moment,” Roberts said. “I think I just hadn’t really calculated my sleeve length and the waving, and how those two things would go together and reveal personal things about me. So it wasn’t so much a statement as it’s just part of the statement I make as a human on the planet, for myself.”

Paris Jackson

Michael Jackson’s daughter, Paris Jackson, proudly showed off her long leg hair on Instagram in August 2017, writing: “If you’re not competing with your brother over who can grow longer leg hair wyed [what are you even doing].”

She was called out by critics who shamed her for not shaving, but it didn’t bother Paris.

“People are really mad. I wish I could post some of these responses,” she said when she addressed the haters on her Instagram Story. “You can just tell how angry and infuriated these people are… I love hair, and sweat, and BO. I f—— love it, I think it’s great. Some people think that it’s like super disgusting, especially on girls, but every human body does it. It’s natural. Get over it.”

To put her body hair shamers in their place, she followed up her leg hair snap with a selfie on Instagram showing off her unshaven underarms in September 2017.

Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus sent the internet wild in 2015 when she revealed her grown-out underarm hair on Instagram. Then, Cyrus followed up on the excitement by documenting the process of dyeing her pit hair a few weeks later.

She and hair colorist Justin Anderson had a “pit party” where they documented the bleaching process and showed off the final result — vibrant pink armpit hair on Instagram.

Amandla Stenberg

Amandla Stenberg proudly showed off unshaved armpit hair on the red carpet at the movie’s European premiere, posing in a plunging, backless Valentino gown. In an Instagram post, The Hate U Give (2018) star pointed out the hair writing, “#drama #armpit.”

The non-binary actor opened up about being bisexual and not conforming to social constructs.

“[I want to] show people who follow what I’m doing that you don’t really have to conform to those constructs in order to be valid or be worth something,” Stenberg told PEOPLE in April 2017. “It’s been such a blessing to watch people who care about what I have to say feel more comfortable in their identities because they see I’m out here doing my thing.”

Leandra Medine Cohen

Leandra Medine Cohen — the founder of the former style website Man Repeller — was trolled by social media commenters in July 2018 after she shared a photo on Instagram of her unshaven legs while showing off her Manolo Blahnik mules and Aurelie Bidermann ankle bracelets.

She responded with a post of clean-shaven legs on Instagram, writing that she didn’t intend to make a statement; instead, she was just feeling lazy.

“Tbh, I prefer being shaven but often prioritize other things over it.”

She went on to encourage her fans to be more considerate of those who embrace their body hair.

“Disagreement on an expression does not have to necessitate polarity though recently it seems like it does but I feel pretty strongly that we can be respectful in our differing opinions and still exist within the same feed — comment thread, even.”