Dr. Phil Possibly Shaves Iconic Mustache for April Fool’s Day Joke

Dr. Phil is a little more difficult to recognize thanks to his new fresh-shaven look.

The 68-year-old talk show host took to Instagram on Monday to debut an upper lip that is as bald as the top of his head, revealing through a series of photos and videos that he had decided to go mustache-free.

“Well… I did it,” he captioned the post.

The series of images, in which Dr. Phil is seen holding a razor as he sits in hair-and-makeup chair before he lathers himself up in preparation of shaving, was met with a ripple of fans shocked to see his iconic mustache no longer in its rightful place.

“PHIL NO WHY I AM CRYING SO HARD,” one person wrote.

“#Notmyphil,” another added, a hashtag that quickly caught on.

“UNDO BUTTON,” another requested.

Another fan of the famed mustache claimed that “this is the saddest moment in history.”

“Is this the beginning of a mid-life crisis?” one person asked.

Thankfully, for fans who did not catch on to the date, Dr. Phil quelled worries when he took to Instagram a second time just hours later, revealing that his mustache is going nowhere anytime soon and that the previous post was just an “APRIL PHILS” Day prank.

“April Fool’s! You didn’t really think I’d do it right?” he asked in the video. “I’d look like an aardvark if I took this off.”

While the admission did manage to garner a few laughs, news that it was just a prank was overwhelmingly met with a sigh of relief.

“Wow Phil you are such a little prankster!!!” one person wrote in the comments section of the post.

“You scared the heck out of me Phil,” another fan added.

Dr. Phil, famous for his namesake television talk show in which he offers advice, last made a notable change to his appearance about a decade ago. During a segment on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2010, he shaved off his mustache, with the show airing live from Radio City Music Hall in New York. The new look marked the first time he had been mustache-free in 40 years.