Amy Schumer in “I Feel Pretty”
Love Amy Schumer movies, like “Trainwreck” and “I Feel Pretty”; they are so funny! Now Schumer is sharing something more serious, her real life-long struggle with trichotillomania, the compulsive urge to pull out her hair. She has shared about her struggles with endometriosis, Lyme disease, and even more personal stuff like having a sex life after giving birth, but she has kept her hair-pulling problems to herself, until deciding to include it on her new Hulu dramedy, “Life & Beth”.
“I think everybody has a big secret and that’s mine,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Friday. “And I’m proud that my big secret only hurts me but it’s been what I’ve carried so much shame about for so long.”
It all started about 2 years ago, when Schumer decided to wear shorts at the chiropractor and he noticed the scar on her upper thigh, from a very bad surfing accident at 16, which required 41 stitches in 3 layers. The chiropractor attributed her physical pain to her emotional trauma, and Schumer agreed
“The metaphor that you need to deal with the emotional trauma from the past so you can get out of physical pain was not lost on me,” …After that visit, Schumer realized that “these things aren’t going to go away if we ignore them—the past is just going to keep hurting you,” she says. “When you get to this age, you better evolve if you want to move forward.”
‘It Feels Really Freeing.’ Amy Schumer Lets Go of Teenage Trauma in New Hulu Series Life & Beth
Schumer has been dealing with her trichotillomania since a hard time during her childhood when her dad declared bankruptcy after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and her mother left him for the married father of Schumer’s best friend. The hair-pulling became her way of dealing with the stress. She wore a wig to school to cover up a growing bald spot.
This part about her has been weighing her down, until now, after deciding to let go of the shame and just share:
“It’s been the thing that I’ve been most ashamed of,” she says. “It feels really freeing to finally let go of some of that.”
She has learned to deal with the condition:
“it’s not that I used to have this problem and now I don’t. It’s still something that I struggle with.”
And her 3 year old son touching his head reminds her of it too, because of the genetic components of it:
“Every time he touches his head I’m having a heart attack,”
Schumer has found that creating art out of her own troubles has been healing
“When you deal with chronic, often invisible pain, it’s such an isolating sort of private journey,” she said. “You really have to advocate for yourself — and that’s what I’m doing here.”
She does check with her family and friends when including stories related to them on the show “Life & Beth” though:
“I’m really happy to talk about anything that is about me personally,” she said. “But any parts of the show that are based on anyone, I did run by them.”
You can watch Schumer this Sunday on the Oscars, with co-hosts Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes – the first 3-female co-hosts for the show!
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