Lili Reinhart has broken the news of her recent alopecia diagnosis to the public.
The Riverdale star took to TikTok on Monday (Jan. 29), noting that she “was just diagnosed with alopecia in the midst of a major depressive episode.” In a 13-second-long clip, which she captioned, “Red light therapy is my new best friend #alopecia #mentalhealth,” Reinhart mouths the following audio: “I’m pushed beyond limits of what a person should be pushed to endure.”
Defined by the American Academy of Dermatology Association as an autoimmune disease through which “your immune system mistakenly attacks hair follicles,” alopecia areata “can start at any age,” although it is commonly first detected in “children and young adults.” While those diagnosed commonly lose hair “on their scalp or beard area,” they may lose hair on any part of their body.
According to Cleveland Clinic, red light therapy can “improve hair growth in people with androgenic alopecia,” per People.
Other actresses who have previously been diagnosed with alopecia include Jada Pinkett Smith, Viola Davis, and Neve Campbell, the latter two of whom, like 27-year-old Reinhart, developed alopecia in their 20s, per BuzzFeed.
Reinhart has been vocal about her struggles with mental health in the past. She discussed taking on virtual therapy in a 2020 interview with Nylon, and according to People, she posted on her Instagram story the following year that “some days [she] feel[s] really deflated by [her] depression,” describing it as “an exhausting battle that [she’s] been fighting for 11 years.”
She also appeared on Dax Shepard‘s Armchair Expert podcast in 2022, per USA Today, where she said that although she “feel[s] that [she] can handle [her] depression and [her] sadness,” her anxiety can feel “unbearable.”
“It feels like this engine inside you that’s running, and there’s nowhere for it to go,” she added.
Watch Reinhart’s TikTok above.
