Jada Pinkett-Smith Shares Her 'Terrifying' Hair Loss Experience

The actress revealed she suffers from alopecia.

May 22, 2018

Actress Jada Pinkett-Smith is known for some pretty great hairstyles and short ones in particular, but on the latest episode of her Facebook series Red Table Talk, she opened up about her battle with hair loss, including how "terrifying" it was when she first realized what was going on. Around the three-minute mark, the actress starts off by saying she noticed she was losing "handfuls of hair" in the shower, later learning she had alopecia.

"I was just like 'oh my God, am I going bald?" she said. "It was one of those times in my life where I was literally shaking with fear....that's why I cut my hair and continued to cut it." She suspects stress might be the cause of the condition, but various medical tests have not been able to pinpoint for sure. She went on to share that she's adopted head wraps and turbans not just to cover up her hair, but to make her feel empowered as well."When my hair is wrapped, I feel like a queen," she explained, before offering up a short tutorial to her mother Adrienne and daughter Willow Smith. While she admits she has difficulty talking about her hair loss and that caring for it was once a "beautiful ritual" for her, she is grateful that her worries are not much greater.

"People are out here who have cancer, people who have sick children. I watch the higher power take things every day and, by golly, if the higher power wants to take your hair. That's it?" she said. "When I looked at it from that perspective, it really did settle me." Red Table Talk has already dealt with some pretty heavy topics in its three aired episodes so far, including Willow admitting to previous self-harm and Jada sharing friend Tupac Shakur was one of her most painful losses.

Watch the full clip above.