Here's How Much Dr. Pimple Popper Is Really Worth
If you get a kick out of blackhead extraction videos on the Internet, you've probably fallen down a rabbit hole and ended up on Dr. Pimple Popper's page.
Dr. Sandra Lee, aka Dr. Pimple Popper was the daughter of two humble parents who grew up poor in Singapore and Malaysia. "My dad didn't have any toys — he said he played with spiders," Lee told WealthSimple. "My mom lived in a one-room house — 10 kids — and an outhouse in the back." When her father first came to New York he reportedly had to wrap his feet in plastic when he walked, but Dr. Pimple Popper was raised in an upper-middle class household. "I knew we were stable. Like, there was a money drawer. I could go and get money if I wanted to," she recalled. She didn't work until she was a student at UCLA where she was a medical assistant at an allergist's office. Her parents helped her, and even though she had a condo and a car, she still worked to achieve her goals. "I think if you combine laziness with things being handed to you, that's when you get into big trouble," she said.
It's clear Dr. Pimple Popper's work ethic resulted in financial success, but what does her bank account say? Keep reading to see how much she's really worth.
Dr. Pimple Popper has a small fortune
Before she became a YouTube star, Dr. Sandra Lee was — and still is — practicing dermatology in Upland, California, according to a July 2019 Refinery 29 report. As of June 2021, dermatologists in the area reportedly bring in an average of $377,900 yearly, per Salary.com. Everything changed when Lee started posting extraction videos on her YouTube channel in 2015.
"Before YouTube demonetized, posting my videos was quite lucrative. At one point, my channel was bringing in six figures a month, and that was ridiculous," she told WealthSimple in August 2018. She then landed her popular TLC show in 2018, "Dr. Pimple Popper." "I'm not getting paid anything for the show, really. But I'm so fortunate to have this — that this has been offered to me," she told the outlet. She also earns money from sponsored Instagram posts, which can net her approximately $13,219 per post, via Compare The Market. All said and done, Lee is worth an estimated $5 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
In addition to her robust online presence, she also sells her own skincare line, SLMD. However, when it comes to managing money, she leaves that to her husband. "I'm still not really good with money. I'm not breaking the bank, but that's mostly because of my husband, Jeff. He really holds things down," she told WealthSimple.