Will Smith's Oscar Drama Shines A Light On Jada Pinkett Smith's Struggle With Hair Loss
Here's what the actress has said about her alopecia.
The 2022 Oscars were filled with memorable moments, including Chris Rock making a pretty rude joke at Jada Pinkett Smith's shaved head.
Will Smith "smacked the sh-t" out of Rock as a result of that joke, and he looked quite pissed about it for the rest of the night until he won Best Actor for King Richard.
Rock had compared Jada's baldness to the military recruit in G.I. Jane, and what no one had time to explain at the Oscars was that her baldness is not by choice.
Pinkett Smith suffers from a condition called alopecia, a condition that she can't control which causes her to lose her hair.
According to American Academy of Dermatology Association, alopecia occurs "when the body starts to attack hair follicles." Naturally, the hair then falls out. This doesn't necessarily have to be on your head, but for Pinkett Smith that appears to be the case.
Sometimes the hair grows back, sometimes it doesn't.
There are three different times of alopecia: alopecia areata which is patchy; totalis, which is only your scalp; and universalis, which is all of your hair.
Pinkett Smith likely has alopecia areata since you can distinctly make out where the hair follicles have fallen out, but there are still some remaining.
The actress has been open about her struggle with alopecia, and she came out late last year to say that she's going to embrace the way she looks as a result of it.
"Me and this alopecia are going to be friends," she wrote in an emotional Instagram post in December.
Pinkett first announced her hair loss in 2018 on her series Red Table Talk.
"It was terrifying when it first started. You know I was in the shower one day and then just handfuls of hair, just in my hands and I was just like 'Oh my god, am I going bald?'" she said at the time.
"It was one of those times in my life where I was literally shaking with fear [...] That's why I cut my hair and why I continued to cut it," said Pinkett Smith.
Needless to say, Pinkett Smith still looks absolutely stunning and she's simply working with a condition that's beyond her control.
No wonder her husband was so upset with the joke!
