‘Freed From The Secret’: Rep. Ayanna Pressley Opens Up About Living With Alopecia

Rep. Ayanna Pressley appears in a video for The Root, the African American-focused online magazine, in which she reveals her bald head and talks about living with alopecia.

Courtesy of The Root and G/O Media via AP

“I’ve only been bald in the privacy of my home and in the company of close friends,” Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts says at the beginning of an emotional video in which she revealed she is living with alopecia.

“I do believe going public will help,” she says in the video published by The Root. “I’m ready now, because I want to be freed from the secret and the shame that secret carries with it. Because I’m not here just to occupy space — I’m here to create it.”

Pressley starts the video wearing a wig and later appears squarely addressing the camera with her bald head revealed.