Keke Palmer Says Her PCOS Causes Facial Hair and Adult Acne: 'It's Different for Everyone'

Keke Palmer is learning how to manage her PCOS, or polycystic ovary syndrome, after learning last year that she had the hormone condition.

The Hustlers star, 28, was struggling with adult acne and wondering why she was growing facial hair until she finally identified PCOS as the source.

"I kind of discovered that that's what I was dealing with and it answered a lot of the questions to, not only why I had acne, but why I grow hair on my face or under my chin, you know I kind of have a lowkey beard going on that I have to shave every couple of days," Palmer told host Tamron Hall on The Tamron Hall Show on Monday. "I started to zero-in on the fact that you know, for me to have dealt with acne past puberty in the way that I did, there had to be something deeper going on. And that's when I came up on PCOS and also things that I needed to change in terms of my diet."

Palmer said that she's since learned that PCOS is a common condition, and that "there's a bunch of different variants … it's different for everyone." And she isn't the only one in her family with PCOS — "even my sister was struggling with it, especially when she was pregnant," the actress said.

Palmer decided to publicly share that she had PCOS last December with a series of bare-faced selfies on Instagram showing her acne, which drew supportive and thankful comments from her followers. It was a decision she made in the hopes of helping others with the condition, but it was also largely to boost her own confidence, Palmer told Hall.

"I do try to be thoughtful with my platform, but I'll be honest, when it came to me talking about the PCOS and my acne struggles, it was to empower myself," she said. "It was to empower myself and to give myself the opportunity to say, 'You know what? Just own who you are, love yourself.' It was like me telling myself 'I love you girl no matter what. I love you so much. I'm going to show your whole self to the world and I'm not going to be afraid.' "

"So that was actually, it was it was essentially kind of like a selfish act of saying, you know, hey, I still love myself and despite what I might be going through, and if you're dealing with something like this, I love you too," Palmer continued. "And then to see the fans response to me, it really meant a lot."

In her Instagram posts last year, Palmer urged her fans to advocate for their health if they have similar issues, after she struggled to find a doctor who would take her concerns seriously.

"It took ME taking a personal look into my family that has a history of diabetes and obesity, to understand what was ACTUALLY happening with me," she said. "And unfortunately doctors are people and if you don't 'look the part' they may not think that's your problem. They may not even suggest it if you 'look healthy' whatever that means!"

RELATED VIDEO: Keke Palmer Shows Her Acne After Learning She Has Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: 'You're Not Alone'

But the experience taught Palmer that she didn't need to hide her skin issues anymore.

"The least harmful thing PCOS can bring is acne," she said. "To all the people struggling with this please know you're not alone and that you are still so f---ing fine! MY ACNE AINT NEVER STOPPED ME. But we don't have accept this. Now I can really help KEKE! And I love her so it's ON."