Christian Adolf Jurgensen III better known as, Sonny Jurgensen, might have played in an era of football where quarterbacks were extremely reserved, but Jurgensen was willing to take risks through the air while he was on the field. During his tenure in the NFL, a lot of controversy surrounded his style of play for refusing to play ball-controlled conservative football. His unwillingness to conform split the city of Washington DC in half on whether Jurgensen or the team's second option should be the starting quarterback for the Redskins back in the early 1970s. Jurgensen attended Duke University from 1954 to 1956 and had an instant impact on the field as a defensive back. In his initial year with the team, Jurgensen broke a school record, nabbing an interception in four consecutive games. The following year, Sonny took over as starting quarterback and led the Blue Devils to an ACC co-championship. Despite starting out hot, Jurgensen had an abysmal final year at Duke, finishing the season 5-4-1.
Sonny Jurgensen would go on to be drafted 43rd overall in the fourth round of the 1957 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles where he would play seven seasons out of the eighteen seasons of his total NFL career. Sonny would go on to win an NFL Championship with the Eagles as a backup in 1960 but threw for an NFL record 3,723 yards and an NFL record-tying 32 touchdowns the following year as the team's starting quarterback. At the time, this was unheard of and Jurgensen began to revolutionize the game as a precision passer throughout his entire NFL career. In 1964, 5x Pro Bowler signed a deal with the Washington Redskins where he would play for the next decade before retiring. Throughout Jurgensen's nearly two-decade career, he would lead the league in passing yards five times as well as touchdowns twice.
They may be beautiful, rich and famous, but celebrities are human too, and that means they're just as prone to getting sick as the rest of us. And just like us, some celebs even live with chronic conditions that can take a toll on their day-to-day lives. But eczema – also referred to as dermatitis – is a common dry skin condition. Symptoms include dry, itchy, red and scaly skin. In more extreme cases, the skin can crust and bleed. According to the National Eczema Association, 1 in 10 individuals will develop eczema in their lifetime. And given these statistics, it’s hardly a surprise there are a few celebrities out there who have eczema too.
The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, 37, suffered from eczema in her teens. Kate was bullied heavily whilst attending Downe House girls’ boarding school, according to the Duchess’s friend Jessica Hay. According Hay, Middleton’s bullies made fun of her eczema. ‘It didn’t help that she was so tall and self-conscious about her eczema,’ Hay told CelebNow. Studies have shown children with moderate and extreme atopic dermatitis are more likely to suffer from conditions like anxiety and low self-esteem, which has a knock-on effect on their school work and ability to make friends.
Although Brad Pitt, 55, has not spoken about the issue himself, his co-star Cate Blanchett disclosed that Pitt was suffering from eczema during filming of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. In an interview with Scotland’s Daily Record, the actress said, ‘We went through three weeks of make-up tests and he was covered in eczema from it all.’ Blanchett sweetly loaned Pitt her skin cream to deal with the dermatitis, that had developed due to the use of prosthetic makeup worn during filming. Prosthetic make-up isn’t the hugest concern for us non-Hollywood folk, nevertheless, what is a concern, is how makeup can trigger eczema flair up. Unless makeup brushes are constantly washed (let’s be real, they’re not), they become a breeding ground for bacteria. This can lead to clogged pores and irritated sensitive skin.
Adele, 31, stated that her eczema flared up when she became a new mom. During a press conference in 2013 after her Golden Globe win for Best Original Song for the Bond film Sykfall, the singer said: ‘I am exhausted. That’s how [motherhood] changed me. I have eczema from boiling bottles.’ Research carried out by the BMJ (formerly known as the British Medical Journal) has revealed that contact dermatitis has the potential to have ‘detrimental’ impact and in the worst case scenarios can even threaten some sufferers ability to work.