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Former Model Gail Porter Opens Up About Struggle with Alopecia
by Angela Santoriello
Used to getting glammed up on a daily basis, Scottish model and actress Gail Porter didn’t feel so beautiful when her hair began to fall out in 2005.
However, the current reality star dealt with her alopecia with great grace rather than denial. Rejecting wigs, Porter portrayed real beauty in her bravery to be bald in a society obsessed with hair. Throw in the fact that she was an FHM model in the ‘90s and it is obvious how brave Porter was.
Going from the pages of one of the world’s most notable men’s magazines to a spokesperson for hair loss, Porter used her position to benefit the youth. With almost every little girl dreaming of long golden locks, Porter immediately used her condition for the Little Princess Trust, a charity that raises money for young girls who suffer from the condition.
At the beginning of September, Porter shared how she presently feels about her alopecia with Now magazine. “I feel extremely ugly and I have dealt with having no hair for a long time but sometimes you don’t feel as pretty as everyone else,” she told her Celebrity Big Brother housemates. So inspired by her bravery, housemate Austin Armacost had Porter and a fellow house member shave his head and after called Porter an “awesome human being.”
The Guardian interviewed Porter, asking about alopecia, anorexia and the self-admitted destructive behavior that turned her life upside down. Saying “It seems difficult to believe that a whole head of hair, plus everything else -— eyebrows, eyelashes, pubic hair, underarm hair, leg hair, nose hair — could fall out overnight.” To make matters worse, nobody could tell her why she lost all of her hair in the first place.
“There's no rhyme nor reason to it. It's an autoimmune condition where the body's defense system goes wrong and turns on itself. They say it can be stress hormones, all sorts of things, but if it was just stress than half the people in London would be bald,” says Porter, adding she seemed to have “pulled the short straw” when it came to a having a healthy head of hair.
In her book Laid Bare, Porter also addresses her bout with both anorexia and cutting alongside alopecia, going so far as to make fun of herself to address the condition comfortably, as reported by The Mirror in 2012. Calling herself “old and knackered, bald and mental,” the then 41-year-old spoke openly about her depression that landed her in a mental rehabilitation center. “But at least I can laugh about it.”
Telling The Guardian that “babies look at me and stop crying,” and adding that she looks “like I'm one of them” make Porter’s suffering seem tangible, helping women who have never suffered from alopecia realize it could happen to anyone.
If you or someone you know would like more information about hair loss and how to treat it, please feel free to schedule a consultation or contact one of our representatives today!
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