Ricki Lake Posts Major Hair Loss Photos, Reveals New Life Updates
Ricki Lake has turned a few heads with her recent Instagram post. The actress-turned-talk show [...]
Ricki Lake has turned a few heads with her recent Instagram post. The actress-turned-talk show host shared a trio of photos with her sporting a nearly-shaved head. In the caption, The Masked Singer alum stressed that she was not sick, but felt it was time to come clean about a problem she's dealt with for much of her life.
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"Liberated and Free, Me," Lake wrote in the caption. "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."
The secret, it turns out, was that Lake has been suffering from hair loss for much of her adult life, and used the post to come clean to the world -- and herself -- about it.
"It has been debilitating, embarrassing, painful, scary, depressing, lonely, all the things," the caption continued. "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 therapists over the years knew my truth. I know that by sharing my truth, I will be striking a chord with so so many women and men. I am not alone in this and my goal is to help others while at the same time unshackle myself from this quiet hell I have been living in."
She went on to say that some of the problems trace back to her role of Tracy Turnblad in 1988's Hairspray, when they "triple-processed and teased my then healthy virgin hair every two weeks during filming," which she said caused damage that her body never quite recovered from.
While the heavy-duty maintenance may have played a role, Lake went on to say a number of factors could have contributed to her hair loss, including birth control, radical weight fluctuations, pregnancies, the stress of showbiz, along with various hair dyes and extensions. After admitting she's tried a number of solutions, from treatments to wigs, she's come clean about her issue as a way to help empower herself and others.
Last February, Lake admitted that she'd found love again with Jeff Scult, who founded the clothing brand One Golden Thread. Their romance sparked some two years after the death of her husband, Christian Evans.