Cheyenne Jackson Admits to Five Hair Transplant Surgeries, Shows Off Scar

“American Horror Story” star Cheyenne Jackson is coming clean about the dirty secret he’s been keeping for nearly two decades … he suffers from hair loss. But it’s not just the fact that he’s balding that Jackson is coming clean about, it’s the extreme lengths he’s gone to hide this fact for nearly half his life.

In a lengthy post on his Instagram, the actor shared a startlingly different look in side-by-side images. In the first, his hair is shaved nearly all the way down except on the top, while it’s the other image of the back of his head that really grabs your attention.

“No, this gnarly scar across my head isn’t from life-saving brain surgery, nor did I narrowly survive a shark attack,” he wrote candidly of the image. Instead, he said that this is the aftermath of five different hair transplant surgeries over 14 years.

“My inner monologue is ‘Really Cheyenne? With everything that’s going on in the world, you’re CONFESSING that you had hair surgery? Get over yourself,'” he continued. “I get it, but I’m admitting this really, to RELEASE how much shame & anxiety I’ve had about people finding out for years.”

At the same time, he actually credits the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic with giving him the courage to reveal and live his truth. “What I’ve learned during this pandemic is that shit like this just doesn’t matter.”

“I’m trying to teach my kids to accept themselves & to be proud of who they are, & to put value on things that are IMPORTANT & REAL so as their father, the example should start with me,” he continued. “This is that.”

Jackson then challenged his followers to share a secret or scar or something that’s been weighing on them like this has been on him with the hashtag #ShowYourScars.

Hilariously, he also shared that this thing that has been such a monumentally heavy part of his life, adding fear and stress to every acting job he’s taken, is really on his thing. And that’s kind of the point.

He shared that he would start every job by pulling makeup and hair together behind a closed door to share with them his shameful and “devastating truth.” Their reaction?

“Every. Single. Time. they basically said ‘ummm…yeah…so?'” he wrote. “NO ONE CARED BUT ME!”

He also spoke about how he let the loss of his hair affect his sense of self-worth, his believe in his talent and even how he assumed others would perceive him. It was this all-consuming thing that was so huge to him, but as those hairstylists and makeup artists proved time and again, only him.

And that’s the point of his challenge. That huge, monumental, overwhelming, terrifying thing that’s yours might be worth letting go. You may find out it really wasn’t as big a thing as you thought, and you’ll definitely feel lighter for unburdening yourself from it.