Louis Theroux has provided followers with a tragic health update, lamenting that “nature has played a cruel trick on me.”
The 53-year-old award-winning journalist, is well known for anchoring eccentric television docuseries, including Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends and When Louis Met…
Theroux has developed a large fan base over the years, and this latest news has left a lot of people shocked.
The star took to Instagram to share his health update with his followers, explaining in a post: “Nature has played a cruel trick on me.
“Thanks to my alopecia barbae (‘of the beard’) I can now only grow a weird little Hitler moustache.
“This is what I look like after three days of not shaving.
“I have given up on my beard ever growing back to its luxuriant former glory but is too much to ask for it to ALL fall out instead of having a tiny remnant in a potentially offensive configuration?
“And now a bald patch has appeared on the back of my head making me wonder if my proper hair-hair might be next to go.
“In two years or less, I may be bald! [sigh].”
According to Healthline, the beard can be affected by a particular kind of alopecia called alopecia barbae. it often starts as a tiny, circular bald area.
Though the specific root cause is unknown, there is commonly a connection between alopecia and stress.
It is more frequent among those with a family history of alopecia, asthma, or allergies, so genetics might be another factor.
Theroux initially began to wonder whether he could have alopecia barbae at the start of this year, when he began documenting the “little triangle of stubble around my mouth.”
Just last year he posted: “So this is what my beard grows like now due to what I think is probably alopecia.
“Basically, I get a little triangle of stubble around my mouth and some more at the sides.
“It’s not a big deal, but I don’t want people to think I’m doing something creative with my facial hair and doing it badly, when it’s just what I look like when I don’t shave.
“This is also why I don’t wear a beard as much anymore. Maybe it’ll grow back. Who knows? It mainly happened over the course of 2022.
“You get a sense of how it progressed from the other two photos taken six months before and a year before.”
His latest post has been inundated with comments from fans, with one writing: “You will always be a treat for the eyes. Please don’t hide away behind a podcast, you are far too talented and loved. Hair, no hair, you are defined by your genius not your appearance.”
While another said: “You COULD shave the moustache but then would the remainder be offensive in a different Fred Durstian way? Maybe you could shave the beard and reclaim the ‘Chaplin’ moustache!”
“The relationship we form with our hair is extremely complex. I am sorry to hear your troubles. I want to assure you, having suffered with Alopecia for coming up two years, that I have had some amazing regrowth,” a third commented.
We’re wishing him all the best!
