Courtney Stodden Gets Dirty in Eye-Popping New PETA Ad Exposing Hidden Horror of Leather
For Immediate Release:
March 13, 2026
Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382
Model Courtney Stodden is baring it all in a provocative new PETA campaign that reveals the ugly truth of wearing animal skin. In an accompanying video, the star spells out the hidden side of leather production—including animal misery and death, chemical pollution, deforestation, child labor, and waste runoff—as disgusting black sludge is poured over her nude body.
“What if you had to wear all the dirty consequences of your leather bag?” Stodden says in the video. “You can’t have a clean conscience wearing dirty leather. Choose vegan.”
Cows have friends and mourn when a loved one dies or when they’re separated from each other. Yet cows killed for leather are dragged into slaughterhouses, where they are cut open in full view of one another on floors covered with feces, blood, guts, and urine. In addition to the horrific cruelty that the leather industry inflicts on animals, it’s a major contributor to climate change, land devastation, deforestation and loss of biodiversity. Turning animals’ skins into leather requires massive amounts of toxic chemicals, and runoff from leather tanneries poisons local waterways and sickens workers, many of whom are children. In Bangladesh’s leather tanning area, it has been estimated that 90 percent of leather tannery workers die before the age of 50.
Sustainable vegan leathers—including those made from apple peels, pineapple leaves, cork, mushrooms, and other plant materials—are just as durable and fashionable without the cruelty or environmental destruction of leather.
Stodden is part of a long list of celebrities—including Natalie Portman, Alicia Silverstone, Thandiwe Newton, Joaquin Phoenix, Tom Hardy, John Stamos, and Cristin Milioti—who have teamed up with PETA to promote kindness to animals.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
