Riverdale 's Lili Reinhart Shares Alopecia Diagnosis
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Originally appeared on E! Online
Lili Reinhart is giving an update on her physical and mental health.
The Riverdale star shared she is seeking treatment for an autoimmune disease that causes hair loss amid a challenging chapter in her life.
"Was just diagnosed with alopecia in the midst of a major depressive episode," Lili wrote alongside a Jan. 30 TikTok, which showed her sitting under a special machine commonly used to help treat skin conditions. She added in the caption, "Red light therapy is my new best friend."
In the video, Lili also lip-synced over an audio recording of a man saying: "I'm pushed beyond limits of what a person should be pushed to endure."
Alopecia is a "surprisingly common disease" that causes hair loss on the scalp, face and body, according to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation. Though the cause of the condition is unknown, it affects as many as 6.7 million people in the United States alone.
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Lili is not the only star who's been open about their struggles with alopecia. Jada Pinkett Smith shared her diagnosis in May 2018, saying that it was "terrifying when it first started."
"I was in the shower one day and had just handfuls of hair in my hands and I was just like, ‘Oh my god, am I going bald?'" the Girls Trip actress detailed on an episode of Red Table Talk. "That's why I cut my hair, and why I continue to cut it."
Ashley Tisdale has also struggled with alopecia for years. As she recounted in a January 2023 post on her Frenshe website, "Hair loss is one of my body's ways of signaling stress overload—and a sign to prioritize my self-care rituals."
"A couple of months ago, while simultaneously moving, starting a home renovation, and kicking off a TV project, I noticed that a patch of my hair was starting to fall out," the High School Musical alum recalled. "Nothing major—just a small section behind my ear—but still, it was happening, and not for the first time. A few years ago, the same thing happened when I was overly stressed, so I knew exactly what I was experiencing: alopecia."
And throughout the years, Lili has been vocal about her self-care journey. In 2019, the 27-year-old shared that she had started therapy again for anxiety and depression.
"Friendly reminder for anyone who needs to hear it: Therapy is never something to feel ashamed of," she wrote on her Instagram Story at the time. "Everyone can benefit from seeing a therapist. Doesn't matter how old or 'proud' you're trying to be. We are all human. And we all struggle. Don't suffer in silence."
For more celebs speaking out about their mental health, keep reading.
Billie Eilish
The Grammy-winning singer has been very open about how she protects her energy, such as ignoring haters on social media, while also sharing her advice for those who may need help.
"When people ask me what I'd say to somebody looking for advice on mental health, the only thing I can say is patience," she told Vogue. "I had patience with myself. I didn't take that last step. I waited. Things fade."
<p>Katy Perry</p>
While everyone was trying to make the best of socially distancing to slow the coronavirus pandemic, Katy Perry got real about how situations like this can also be extremely stressful.
"sometimes i don't know what's worse trying to avoid the virus or the waves of depression that come with this new norm," she shared on Twitter.The candid singer talked about how she manages those waves, writing, "There is not really anywhere to go besides my car. So I go to my car a lot. That is my safe space."
Kendall Jenner
The model, who has teamed up with designer Kenneth Cole to raise awareness for The Mental Health Coalition, spoke on Good Morning America about her own experiences with anxiety.
She recalled after her panic attacks started recurring, she, "finally kind of got the information that I needed about it."
"For me, I have good days and I have some really anxious days, so I'm really off and on," she expressed, and added that was why she wanted to become involved with the movement. "What I hope to accomplish is for people to not feel as alone."
Dwayne Johnson
The mega-movie actor has been open about having depression, as well as how it can be difficult for men to talk about their mental health.
"We all go thru the sludge/shit and depression never discriminates. Took me a long time to realize it but the key is to not be afraid to open up," he wrote on Twitter. "Especially us dudes have a tendency to keep it in. You're not alone."
Prince Harry
Prince Harry helped break down some of the stigma around seeking help for mental health when, in an interview with the Telegraph, he opened up about his own journey with therapy.
"The experience I have had is that once you start talking about it, you realize that actually you're part of quite a big club," he told the outlet.
Taraji P. Henson
Another proponent of seeking professional help, Taraji P. Henson has been open about her struggles with depression, telling Variety, "I have a therapist that I speak to. That's the only way I can get through it."
The actress even started The Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation, which works to reduce the stigma around mental health in the African-American community and also works to increase the number of black therapists.
Lili Reinhart
"When I was in middle school, I was struggling with severe anxiety and depression and the help and support I received from my family and a therapist saved my life," Riverdale's Lili Reinhart wrote on Instagram in 2017.
"Asking for help is the first step. You are more precious to this world than you'll ever know."
Kristen Bell
The Frozen performer has talked for years about her strategies for coping with her mental health at public keynotes and even on her Instagram Stories.
She has advocated for finding the methods that help you best, which via Health for her can include medication, listing ten positive things in her life for every negative thought and getting plenty of exercise.
Chrissy Teigen
While Chrissy Teigen is the proud parent to four kiddos, she has also been open about postpartum depression that many new mothers experience, but feel like they cannot talk about.
"It got easier and easier to say it aloud every time," she wrote in an open letter to Glamour in 2017. "I want people to know it can happen to anybody and I don't want people who have it to feel embarrassed or to feel alone."
Cara Delevingne
While promoting her book Mirror, Mirror, the model and actress opened up to The Edit magazine about facing depression and suicidal thoughts as a teenager, saying she felt "something dark" in her during that time.
"I relied too much on love, too much on other people to make me happy, and I needed to learn to be happy by myself," she told the publication, via W. "So now I can be by myself, I can be happy. It took me a long time."
Ariana Grande
The "Thank U, Next" singer has encouraged fans to seek help if they need, responding to a Twitter user who joked about wondering who Ariana Grande's therapist is with, "lmaoaoo this is funny as f--k but in all honesty therapy has saved my life so many times."
"If you're afraid to ask for help, don't be," she continued. "u don't have to be in constant pain & u can process trauma. i've got a lot of work to do but it's a start to even be aware that it's possible."
Demi Lovato
Demi Lovato has been open about her journey with addiction, sobriety, mental health and more, including many of those aspects of her life within her music.
She also continually reminds fans that working on your mental health is an ongoing process where there will be some bad days, writing on Instagram once, "A reminder to anyone struggling out there - this life is a journey with tons of ups and downs but you can't give up."
Zendaya
The actress has taken on roles that deal with mental health, such as her role as Rue in the teen drama Euphoria, but the starlet has also addressed those issues in her own life, too.
Back in 2013, the performer wrote on her now-defunct app that she struggled with anxiety after an appearance on Ellen where her mic went out. She has since learned ways to manage those feelings, adding, "Sometimes you just have to take a step back so things stop stressin' you."
Selena Gomez
The singer candidly described her mental health journey with WSJ Magazine, saying, "My highs were really high, and my lows would take me out for weeks at a time."
"I found out I do suffer from mental health issues," she shared. "I got on the right medication, and my life has been completely changed."
Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga has made it her mission to spread kindness and be open about mental health, including her own.
"I have struggled for a long time, both being public and not public about my mental health issues or my mental illness," she said during the Global Changemakers Award at Children Mending Hearts' Empathy Rocks fundraiser in 2018. "But, I truly believe that secrets keep you sick."
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