Celebs Who Ditched High Heels Because Of Gnarly Foot Issues

Celebrities are no stranger to the antiquated adage "beauty is pain." Over the years, A-listers and aspiring A-listers alike have demonstrated that they'll do just about anything to look good — and that includes wearing shoes that can do serious damage to your feet, like high heels. Unfortunately, many of them learned this the hard way, much like the celebrities who ended up regretting their veneers for health reasons.

While genetics and foot mechanics play a serious role in hurting your feet, the type of shoes you wear can also be a major factor. "It's a recipe for bunions," heart surgeon and TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz said about footwear with narrow toe boxes during a 2008 appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" (via Oprah.com). Aside from that, the wrong footwear can also cause severe foot injuries, such as broken toes, stress fractures, and sprains. Without that said, here are some stars who eventually ditched their high heels at one time or another because of some rather gnarly foot issues. 

Victoria Beckham, formerly known as Posh Spice, turned heads when she arrived at her fall 2016 fashion show sporting a pair of — gasp — sneakers. That same month, during an interview with The Telegraph, she doubled down on her surprising footwear choice at the fashion show. "I just can't do heels any more," she declared. "At least not when I'm working. I travel a lot." In 2020, Beckham further elaborated on her choice during a Q&A session with The Guardian, noting that the decision came only after she'd become more confident in her style choices. "I know what works on me, what looks good, what makes me feel confident and comfortable. I don't feel I have anything to prove now in the way I dress," she said.

We would be remiss, however, not to address the elephant in the room that is Beckham's bunions — and perhaps another major catalyst in her decision to ditch the heels. Over the years, Beckham's famous feet have been photographed many times over, leaving the bilateral bony protrusions on display for the whole world to see. "(The attention on my feet) really was embarrassing. I think I'll have to have the surgery, but I've heard it's the most painful," she candidly told Women's Wear Daily in 2010 (via Daily Mail). 

In 2013, Sarah Jessica Parker got everyone's attention when she revealed that she'd suffered permanent foot damage from wearing high heels for too long. "For ten or so years, I literally ran in heels. I worked 18-hour days and never took them off. I wore beautiful shoes, some better made than others, and never complained," she recalled to Net-A-Porter (via SheKnows). Alas, Parker's footloose and fancy-free lifestyle came to a grinding halt when she twisted her ankle while on the set of "I Don't Know How She Does It." According to Parker, her doctor took one look at her feet and advised her never to wear heels again. "He said, 'Your foot does things it shouldn't be able to do. That bone there.... You've created that bone. It doesn't belong there.'" 

Sarah Jessica Parker Just Adopted Gen Z's Favourite French-Girl Ballet Flat https://t.co/uY9bqv4E5g

— British Vogue (@BritishVogue) June 9, 2026

Still, ever the fashion icon, Parker has seemingly put an all-new shoe on the map. Enter: the block-heeled ballet flat. The actor was spotted sporting the French girl-esque footwear in June 2026 while traipsing around New York City, and she looked très chic!

British actor Elizabeth Hurley is synonymous with high fashion and even higher heels. We'll never forget when she arrived on the arm of then-boyfriend Hugh Grant at the 1994 premiere of "Four Weddings and a Funeral." Suffice it to say, she completely stole the show in a black Versace dress barely hanging on by a thread with large and in-charge gold safety pins and a pair of black high heels to boot. Sadly, in 2021, Hurley injured her left ankle while filming "Christmas in the Caribbean," and suddenly her days in high heels were over. 

During a candid interview with The Telegraph in 2024, Hurley acknowledged that she had "ruined [her feet] by 30 years prancing around in heels." Still, in the ultimate "it's not happening to you, it's happening for you" moment, Hurley now considers the injury a good thing, noting that even now that her ankle is healed, she still doesn't wear heels during the day. "It is so much nicer, it's so much more comfortable. I can walk for miles — it's great!" she gushed. "I really think it changed my life — because I am much more mobile during the day, when I'm not towering in shoes." (Enter: her very own collection of Remonte sneakers.)

It appears that even the Queen of All Media herself, Oprah Winfrey, has had to temporarily ditch her high heels over some foot issues — and during a party, no less. In 2008, the New York Post reported that Winfrey was spotted leaving former South African president Nelson Mandela's high-profile birthday party barefoot due to foot pain. Over the years, much ado has been made about Winfrey's feet after paparazzi snapped some photos of a bony protrusion on her right foot. Winfrey herself admitted as much during an episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

Alas, in March 2026, Winfrey's feet made headlines again. A video of the media mogul at a Chloé runway show at Paris Fashion Week showed her apparently having trouble walking. While many in the comments section chalked Winfrey's curious shuffle up to a new phenomenon known as "Ozempic feet," others cited her footwear — a pair of Chloé Cleia T-bar pumps – as the culprit. "Not an Oprah fan but she is also a woman in her 70s trying to walk in heels...." one X user tweeted.