Oscars drama shines light on Jada Pinkett Smith’s alopecia, condition that causes hair loss

LOS ANGELES — Jada Pinkett Smith discovered her wrestle with hair loss on the middle of an surprising controversy on the Oscars on Sunday evening, after her husband Will Smith appeared to strike comic Chris Rock in response to a joke he made about her shaved head.

Rock, as a presenter, joked to Pinkett Smith that he was wanting ahead to a sequel to “G.I. Jane,” a reference from the 1997 movie starring Demi Moore, who shaved her head to painting a fictional Navy Seal candidate. Afterward, Will Smith stood up from his seat close to the stage, strode as much as Rock and smacked him. After sitting again down, Smith shouted at Rock to “hold my spouse’s identify out of your (expletive) mouth.”

However whereas social media customers had been divided on the “King Richard” star’s offended response, there was widespread assist on-line for Pinkett Smith, who has beforehand opened up about her experiences with the situation alopecia.

“Jada is a CURRENT inspiration for SO many individuals who reside with the identical or comparable subcategory of her situation,” wrote one user. The author Roxane Homosexual in the meantime mentioned that though she did not assume the joke about Pinkett Smith’s alopecia justified violence, she understood the way it “might push somebody over the sting.”

MORE: Will Smith slaps Chris Rock onstage after joke at spouse Jada Pinkett Smith’s expense, apologizes

Revealing her prognosis in 2018, Pinkett Smith has spoken publicly concerning the situation, which has no identified treatment. In an episode of her chat present, Crimson Desk Speak, she recalled the “terrifying” second she first observed she was dropping “handfuls of hair” within the bathe.

“It was a type of instances in my life the place I used to be actually shaking with concern,” she mentioned. “That is why I minimize my hair and continued to chop it.”

Lately, the actress has usually sported brief, cropped hair, or has attended occasions sporting turbans and headwraps. In July final yr she revealed her utterly shaved head, posting an image of herself together with her daughter, Willow, on Instagram.

“Willow made me do it as a result of it was time to let go,” she wrote within the accompanying caption. “BUT … my 50’s are bout to be divinely lit with this shed (shaved head).”

SEE ALSO: Winners, highlights from 2022 Oscars

Posting an replace about her “wrestle” with the situation to Instagram final December, Pinkett Smith mentioned she was coming to phrases with the dysfunction and that “me and this alopecia are going to be associates … interval!”

“Mama’s gonna need to take it right down to the scalp so no person thinks she acquired mind surgical procedure or one thing,” she wrote within the submit, which was accompanied by video the place she confirmed followers a brand new space of hair loss that was going to be “tougher to cover.” She then added that she was going to make use of “some rhinestones” to “make me a bit of crown.”
Pinkett Smith has since appeared in public together with her new look to varied award ceremonies and premieres. On the Critics’ Alternative Awards earlier this month she accessorized with a diamond-encrusted headpiece.

WATCH: Rep. Ayanna Pressley goes public with alopecia and baldness

About of a 3rd of girls will endure some type of hair loss of their lives, in response to Harvard Medical Faculty. And a peer-reviewed examine revealed in 2018 discovered that Black and Hispanic ladies within the US have a “considerably larger” likelihood of growing alopecia areata — the medical time period for the autoimmune dysfunction Pinkett Smith has — of their lifetime than White ladies.

Alopecia advocates, and people with the situation, took to social media following the incident, with one consciousness group, The Bald Women Do Lunch, tweeting: “Jokes about @jadapsmith or any girl with #alopecia #alopeciaareata isn’t okay. Interval.”

“It took Jada numerous braveness to come back out in public,” wrote one other Twitter user, who additionally has the dysfunction, including: “Disgrace on you Chris Rock.”

Former NBA star and self-described “alopecia ambassador” Charlie Villanueva in the meantime used the controversy to post a message of support for these with the dysfunction: “Bear in mind, you’ve got alopecia, alopecia does not have you ever.”

The-CNN-Wire ™ & © 2022 Cable Information Community, Inc., a WarnerMedia Firm. All rights reserved.