“It was humiliating, and it was really hard.”
Spoilers follow for Life & Beth.
If you’ve watched the first season Amy Schumer‘s Hulu show Life & Beth, you probably know that her character Beth struggled with trichotillomania — a disorder that causes people to pull out their hair — as a child.
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In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter last month, the comedian and actor revealed that she also lives with the disorder.
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“I’m proud that my big secret only hurts me,” she said about the decision to open up, “but it’s been what I’ve carried so much shame about for so long.”
During a recent appearance on Howard Stern’s show, Amy opened up more about living with her condition and how it made her feel “ugly and unloveable” when she was younger.
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During the interview, Amy revealed that she pulled out so much hair at the age of 13 that she had to wear a wig to school. “And it was humiliating, and it was really hard,” she said of the experience.
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“I ate my lunch in the nurse’s office because I heard someone say that I made them sick.”
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Amy said that, despite her struggle as a teenager, she tried to convince herself that she “was okay.”
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“My mom was especially horrified and upset by it. She would help me do my hair before school every morning, and she would be crying while she helped me with my hair.”
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“I didn’t realize that I was not okay and the hair pulling was a symptom of that,” she said. “I would not even realize I did it and just look down and there would be a pile of hair.”
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Amy also said that she still lives with trichotillomania and has “probably half the amount of hair that I should have” — but that extensions have helped in carrying on with her life otherwise.
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“I used to be embarrassed about having these little clip-in extensions, but I just think all these things that we’ve been ashamed of and hiding — we put on makeup, we put in extensions, we put on Spanx — it’s all good,” she said.
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“Just doing whatever you want to do to feel good.”
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Watch the entire interview here.
Head to the TLC Foundation‘s website for more support and resources for Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors.
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