After an eventful Oscars on Sunday night, a disease that causes hair loss is dominating conversations.
And the woman at the forefront of the conversation is Baltimore native Jada Pinkett Smith. Her husband, Will Smith, slapped Chris Rock on stage during the 94th Academy Awards after he made a joke about her hair loss.
Here’s what you need to know:
What happened at the Oscars?
While Chris Rock was presenting, he made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith being bald.
Rock said, “Jada, I love you. ‘G.I. Jane 2,’ can’t wait to see it.”
Without missing a beat, Will Smith strode toward the stage and slapped Rock. After he returned to his seat he shouted profanities at Rock. Broadcaster ABC cut the audio for about 15 seconds.
Within an hour, Smith won best actor. During his acceptance speech, he apologized to the Academy and late Monday he issued an apology to Rock.
Did Jada intentionally shave her head?
Pinkett Smith, who grew up in West Baltimore’s Park Heights neighborhood, recently shaved her head because she was “struggling with alopecia,” as she explained in an Instagram video in December.
The 50-year-old actress, who graduated from the Baltimore School for the Arts, first said about four years ago that she had alopecia and it’s the reason she has shaved her head or worn turbans in public.
What is alopecia?
Alopecia areata is a disease that occurs when the body’s immune system attacks hair follicles, often on the scalp or face, but sometimes on other parts of the body. Sometimes hair falls out in chunks and only partial baldness results. The hair can grow back but repeated bouts of baldness can also occur.
According to the National Institutes of Health, it affects all racial and ethnic groups, men and women equally. There is no cure, but sometimes doctors recommend treating it with steroids, medications that suppress the immune system, or drugs that work to stimulate hair growth.
The National Alopecia Areata Foundation says the condition affects about 2% of the population, or as many as almost 7 million Americans. It can occur at any age, but most often during the teen years or young adulthood.
