At the Oscars, Chris Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s buzz cut, prompting her husband, Will Smith, to rush to the stage and hit him. The Smiths were supposedly offended by the joke — during which Rock likened Pinkett Smith to the bald movie character “G.I. Jane” — because she has alopecia, which causes hair loss.
According to the American Academy of Dermatology, hair loss can occur anywhere on the body due to a condition called alopecia, which occurs when the body’s immune system mistakenly assaults healthy hair follicles. Although most cases of alopecia manifest as a circular or oval bald spot on the scalp, there are some variations of the condition that result in complete hair loss there and elsewhere.
A 2018 episode of Smith’s family’s Facebook Watch show, “Red Table Talk,” was the first time she discussed her alopecia diagnosis. She described the experience as “Terrifying” and revealed that she was losing clumps of hair while she was in the shower. “At that moment, I remember being so terrified that I could barely contain my body. That’s why I chopped my hair, and why I continue to cut it,” she remarked.
In a video shared on Instagram in December 2021, she showed off her freshly shaved head and declared, “I and my alopecia are going to be buddies.”
In the clip, she can be heard saying, “Now, at this point, I can only chuckle.”
Ayanna Pressley, a member of Congress, has also spoken publicly about her experience with alopecia. For the Massachusetts Democrat, alopecia progressed rapidly, as she said in an interview with The Root in 2020. The representative said, “I had been waking up every morning to sinkfuls of hair,” and she went bald on TV for the first time.
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She at first donned a wig but said she knew she would eventually go public with her alopecia because she felt as if she “Owed all those little girls an explanation.”
Pinkett Smith has been praised for her honesty about her HIV status both before and after the Oscars event.
“Happiness rules in Jada’s kingdom! The fact that she has alopecia areata doesn’t bother her in the least. She gains strength from it because it is one of the things that makes her special. Your encouragement to the women of the alopecia community is greatly appreciated “In 2018, Bald Girls Do Lunch creator and activist Thea Chassin used Twitter to raise awareness about alopecia.
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“Thank you Jada for giving me the guts to go bald,” another lady said in 2018. “I’m on dialysis and the medicines led me to have alopecia. You are an inspiration and I’m no longer ashamed of my appearance.”
British reality TV personality Zara Lena Jackson, who also has alopecia, posted about the confrontation between Smith and Rock on her Instagram account, stating she doesn’t condone violence, but it did raise awareness of the disorder.
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“To me, that is the consequences of alopecia, [Smith is] under a lot of stress watching his wife go through such a horrible ordeal,” Jackson added. “And it’s a breaking point. And I’m not saying that justifies what he did to Chris… But it is about time alopecia got handled seriously.”