Made in Chelsea's Olivia Bentley exclusively reveals to HELLO! how she has secretly been dealing with a problem that has plagued her since she was a teenager. "I suffer from hair loss, from alopecia," 23-year-old Olivia tells HELLO! "It’s left me with feelings of insecurity over the years, so I’ve tried to hide my bald patches and receding hairline by wearing hats and hairpieces, and dyeing my naturally dark brown hair blonde." She tells HELLO!: "Instead of retreating into my insecurity and concealing my hair loss even more, I decided to go public. Not enough is spoken about alopecia in women; it’s still a taboo subject we tend to hide. Now I hope that by coming forward, I will encourage other women and girls in the same situation not to feel upset or embarrassed any more."
Olivia Bentley has opened up about her hair loss battle
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She recalls how, after being prescribed the pill at 16, her hair started to recede at the temples. "Every time I washed my hair in the shower, I could feel clumps of hair falling out in my hand," she says. "And whenever I brushed it, there would be masses of hair in the bristles. To go through that as a young girl was awful."
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In the next episode of MIC she discloses her struggle for the first time to her fellow cast members, telling HELLO!: "They were all lovely about it. I confided in Digby [MIC’s Digby Edgley, whom she has been dating off and on for 18 months] quite early on in our relationship. He told me, ‘You could shave your head completely and I would still love you because you’re beautiful.’ He totally accepts me as I am."
Watch Liv on Made in Chelsea at 9pm on Monday night on E4
To read the full interview, pick up the latest copy of HELLO!, out Monday 6 May