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Actress Ricki Lake, 51, is opening up about her battle with hair loss . In her latest Instagram post, Ricki posted a photo of herself with a shaved head and says she's suffered from hair loss for almost 30 years.
"Liberated and Free, Me. First things first, I am not sick. (THANK GOD.) I am not having a mid-life crisis. nor am I having a mental breakdown, though I have been suffering. Suffering mostly in silence off and on for almost 30 years. AND I am finally ready to share my secret," she wrote. She then shares her story of dealing with hair loss. "I have been struggling with hair loss for most of my adult life," Ricki shared in her lengthy Instagram post. "It has been debilitating, embarrassing, painful, scary, depressing, lonely, all the things. There have been a few times where I have even felt suicidal over it. Almost no one in my life knew the level of deep pain and trauma I was experiencing. Not even my therapist/s over the years knew my truth."
She claims that it started in the 80s when she played Tracy Turnblad in the original Hairspray in 1988. She says at the time her hair was "triple-processed and teased" every two weeks, and her hair was never the same.
"In my case, I believe my hair loss was due to many factors, yo-yo dieting, hormonal birth control, radical weight fluctuations over the years, my pregnancies, genetics, stress, and hair dyes and extensions. Working as talent on various shows and movies, whether DWTS or my talk show, also took its toll on my fine hair."
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Ricki says that she wore hair extensions, from ones that got glued on, taped, clipped in, and also tried wigs.
"It all felt fake and I was super self-conscious and uncomfortable. Ive been to many doctors, gotten steroid shots in my head, taking all the supplements and then some. My hair would recover and then shed again. It was maddening," she shared.
Her friends sent her super encouraging comments.
"Love you so much. Beautiful inside and out! ," wrote Andy Cohen. " Love you. So happy for you and your new chapter ," commented Tess Holiday. And Rosie O'Donnell wrote, "love u so".