The COVID-19 pandemic offers a unique context to explore how people engage with traumatic experiences. The current quantitative, cross-sectional, correlational study investigated how personality traits impact the relationship between psychological distress and posttraumatic growth (PTG) arising from COVID-19 experience in the U.S.A. It was hypothesised that (1) trait openness would moderate the relationship between psychological distress and PTG, such that it would be stronger at high openness; and (2) trait neuroticism would moderate the relationship between psychological distress and PTG, such that it would be weaker at high neuroticism. Using CloudResearch, 294 adults (59.5% women) aged between 18 and 74 (M = 39.4; SD = 15.8) completed a survey comprising the Big Five Inventory 2 – Short Form (BFI-2-S), Impact of Events Scale – Revised (IES-R), and Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) scales. Moderated multiple regressions indicated significant interactive relationships between psychological distress, personality, and posttraumatic growth, whilst accounting for age, gender, and ethnicity. At low distress, those with high openness showed higher growth (b = 0.86, p < .001), whilst at high traumatic impact, highly open participants reported lower growth. Higher growth was noted at lower neuroticism (b = 1.02, p < .001), although the level of growth differed depending on distress intensity. The present findings differ from previous literature, providing insight into the complex structure of PTG as influenced by personality and COVID-19-related distress. Whilst it is possible the current study reflects peri-traumatic growth, given the ongoing COVID-19 experience, the findings offer potential avenues for improving psychological wellbeing for the wider population.