Amy Schumer has always been honest with her fans about her health, and her latest confession is that she is a long-time sufferer of Trichotillomania, more commonly known as the compulsive hair-pulling disorder. The 40-year-old comedian finally opened up about the “big secret” she was hiding for years after the condition was included in her Hulu comedy-drama series, Life & Beth.
Trichotillomania is described as a body-focused repetitive behavior (BFRB), and falls into the same category as nail biting, and skin picking, for example. The mom-of-one spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about how the condition – which reportedly affects 1.7% of the US population – affected her when she was a child. She said that she remembers that she first started pulling her hair out after her father declared bankruptcy after being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, and her mother left him for the married father of her best friend. Schumer recalled that at one point, the condition got so bad, she needed to wear a wig due to the sheer volume of hair she had pulled out!
The I Feel Pretty star then said that including the condition in Life & Beth would be a good way to shed light on it, whilst also being somewhat cathartic for her. Schumer admitted that the condition once brought her a lot of "shame," but it is now something she wants to tell the world about, especially as it is something she still struggles with. "It’s not that I used to have this problem and now I don’t. It’s still something that I struggle with," she told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview which was published on Friday, March 25th.
"I think everybody has a big secret and that’s mine," she continued. "And I’m proud that my big secret only hurts me but it’s been what I’ve carried so much shame about for so long. I really don’t want to have a big secret anymore." The Trainwreck actress then went on to defend her decision to include it in her new Hulu show, adding: "I thought putting it in there would be good for me to alleviate some of my shame, and maybe, hopefully, help others alleviate some of theirs too."
