Famous People With Trichotillomania Who Have Spoken Out

If you’ve ever felt like the only person in the world who pulls out their hair, it can help to know who else has said “me too” out loud. This guide covers famous people with trichotillomania (trich) who have talked about it publicly, in their own words, with a link to where they said it.

We’ve only included people who have described their own trichotillomania. Rumors, guesses from photos and names copied from other lists are left out.

Which famous people have talked about having trichotillomania?

Comedian Amy Schumer, actor Olivia Munn and model Sara Sampaio are the best-known celebrities with trichotillomania who have spoken about it publicly. Oxford neuroscientist Clare Mackay, Welsh content creator Ruben Chorlton-Owen and Australian reality TV star Erin Bateman have also shared their stories.

What did they say about trichotillomania?

Here is what each person said, in brief, with a link to the original.

Amy Schumer: a “big secret”

Schumer revealed her trichotillomania in 2022, shortly before her Hulu series Life & Beth came out. In a late episode, a teenage version of her character is fitted for a wig after her mother is told the name of the condition, a storyline Schumer drew from her own life. “I think everybody has a big secret and that’s mine,” she told The Hollywood Reporter.

On The Howard Stern Show, she said that at 13 she had pulled out so much hair she wore a wig to school, and that she ate lunch in the school nurse’s office after hearing a classmate say she made them feel sick. She described pulling without noticing, then looking down to find a pile of hair. She said she still pulls, uses hair extensions, and hoped sharing it would ease her shame and help others with theirs (TODAY, 2022).

Olivia Munn: an urge, a moment of pain, then regret

On the Armchair Expert podcast in June 2025, Munn said her trich mainly involves her eyelashes. She described a feeling that a lash is about to come out, a quick moment of pain when she pulls it, then satisfaction followed right away by regret (ABC News, 2025).

She said it began around 2009 to 2010, when photographers snapped her while she was dating actor Chris Pine, and she read unkind comments under the pictures online.

The loop she describes, from urge to relief to regret, is one many people with trich recognize. Our complete guide to trichotillomania explains this cycle and why shame keeps it going.

Sara Sampaio: “talking about it helps”

Sampaio first mentioned her trich in 2018, when someone on social media asked how she looked after her eyebrows and she replied that the gaps came from trich. She told Haute Living she had found the condition’s name by searching online, and only saw a doctor that year, partly because she worried she might start pulling her scalp hair. Her message to others: don’t feel ashamed, because “talking about it helps”.

In 2022, on the web series Scan My Brain, she said her trich started when she was 15, that she pulls at her eyebrows, and that she also picks at her lips and lives with anxiety (Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, 2022).

Clare Mackay: a brain scientist and her own condition

Mackay is a professor of neuroscience at the University of Oxford. In 2023 she wrote publicly for the first time about the trichotillomania she has had since she was 12 (University of Oxford, 2023). Her eyelashes caused her the most distress, and she has also picked her skin and bitten her nails. She noted that people who ask for help often find their GP hasn’t heard of the condition.

“I lived under a cloak of shame for nearly 40 years,” she wrote. She credits a therapist who combined compassion-focused therapy (which helps you respond to your struggles with kindness instead of self-criticism) and schema therapy (which looks at deep-rooted patterns that often begin in childhood) with helping her step out of that shame. She then turned her research toward body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs), the group of conditions that includes hair pulling, skin picking and nail biting.

Ruben Chorlton-Owen: men pull too

Chorlton-Owen, a content creator from Abersoch in North Wales, noticed small gaps in his eyebrows at about 15 and later found the name by looking up his symptoms (LADbible, 2026). He pulls mainly from his eyebrows and beard. Stress, boredom, anxiety and intense films can set it off, and at its worst he doesn’t notice until he sees hair in his hand. For years he blamed a shaving mishap.

In a 2026 post for YoungMinds, a UK charity for young people’s mental health, he wrote that he still pulls but has learned to live with it. Things that help him include knowing his triggers, keeping his hands busy, and letting people close to him point it out when he starts, which he chose and asked for. His message to others is that trich “doesn’t make you strange or weak”.

Our guide to trichotillomania in men looks at why fewer men talk about it.

Erin Bateman: a public first step

Bateman appeared on the Australian series Married at First Sight. In 2018 she shaved her head to raise money for a leukemia charity, and wrote on Instagram that she hoped it would be the first day of overcoming her 14-year struggle with trichotillomania (Mamamia, 2018).

Why aren’t some famous names on this list?

Because we couldn’t find them saying it themselves. Many online lists of celebrities with trichotillomania repeat names based on rumor, photos of thin hair, or other lists. Some articles, including a 2022 BuzzFeed News piece, have named people such as Megan Fox, Justin Timberlake and Katy Perry without linking to anything they said. We looked for an interview, post or recording where they described their own trichotillomania and didn’t find one, so they aren’t included here.

Other well-known people have talked about pulling out their hair during a hard time in childhood without calling it trichotillomania. That’s theirs to name, so we haven’t named it for them.

What do their stories have in common?

Their lives differ, but their stories overlap in ways many people with trich will recognize.

• It often starts young. Mackay was 12, Schumer was pulling heavily by 13, and Sampaio and Chorlton-Owen were about 15. Trich usually starts around ages 10 to 13, though Munn’s story shows it can begin in adulthood.
• Hiding it takes effort. Wigs, extensions, caps and cover stories come up again and again.
• Pulling isn’t always noticed. Schumer and Chorlton-Owen both described finding hair they didn’t remember pulling. This is often called automatic pulling.
• Shame is heavy, and talking eases it. Schumer, Sampaio, Mackay and Chorlton-Owen all said speaking openly helped them, or helped others who got in touch.
• Some still pull. Schumer and Chorlton-Owen have said they still pull. Trich often comes in waves, and living well with it counts.

Our guide to focused and automatic pulling explains why some pulling happens without you noticing.

If you’re thinking about telling someone, our guide on how to tell someone you have trichotillomania has ideas for what to say.

If someone close to you has told you they pull, read our guide on how to support someone with trichotillomania.

When should I get help for hair pulling?

You don’t need to be famous, or to have pulled for decades, to deserve support. Get help if pulling upsets you, takes up your time, or affects your life, work, school or relationships.

Trichotillomania affects about 1 in 50 people. It isn’t a bad habit, attention-seeking, self-harm or a lack of willpower. Many doctors and therapists have never worked with someone who pulls, but everyone in our directory has told us they understand trichotillomania and already help people who pull, in person or online. You can search the directory.

If you’re a parent, start with The Parent’s Guide to Trichotillomania: understanding what your child is going through.

If you’re feeling very low or hopeless, please talk to someone today.

In an emergency, call 911 or go to your nearest emergency department.

• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — 988 (988lifeline.org)

Questions people ask

Sources

1. The Hollywood Reporter (2022). Amy Schumer on writing her trichotillomania into Hulu’s Life & Beth.
2. TODAY (2022). Amy Schumer felt ‘ugly and unlovable’ due to hair-pulling disorder.
3. Najib, S. (2025). Olivia Munn opens up about living with trichotillomania. ABC News.
4. Schreffler, L. (2018). Sara Sampaio on her struggle with trichotillomania and how she’s helping others fight BFRBs. Haute Living.
5. Lippe-McGraw, J. (2022). Sara Sampaio opens up about her battle with trichotillomania. Sports Illustrated Swimsuit.
6. Mackay, C. (2023). Trichotillomania – emerging from under the cloak of shame. Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford.
7. Ruben, 24 (2026). My hidden struggle with trichotillomania. YoungMinds.
8. Vij, A. (2026). Man with trichotillomania shares the first sign he knew something was wrong. LADbible.
9. Stewart, B. (2018). Married At First Sight’s Erin has shaved off all her hair and live streamed the whole thing. Mamamia.
10. BuzzFeed News (2022). Amy Schumer opened up about having trichotillomania. Here’s what people with the condition think about that.