Moriah Gill
To us, Sir Patrick Stewart has always been bald. But for him, that isn’t the case. At a young age, his hair loss defined his life, or so he thought. Although he’s influenced bald men everywhere in his lifetime, it took the Star Trek: The Next Generation actor quite some time to adapt to being himself without a full head of hair. The show helped him to adjust along with some help from some friends.
Videos by Rare
Male Pattern Baldness
At the age of 19, long before his roles of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Professor X, Stewart started losing all of his hair due to male pattern baldness. At the time, he was working as a journalist and wanting to get into acting. By the time he was twenty, he was the loss of his hair completely shook his identity. He thought his life and career were over. He thought that he would have zero luck in movies or with any potential female love interests. As it does, this defeated mindset started to rule his life. He became timid, walked with a hunch, grew a sparse comb over and wore wigs to auditions and hats regularly.
A few years into that mindset of madness, one of his good drama school friends invited him out to lunch with his wife. After the lunch, in a flash of movement Stewart and his comb-over were face to face with his friend’s wife brandishing a shiny pair of scissors and his friend, a mature, Judo black belt held him captive in his seat.
No More Hiding
Between his friend’s strength and his friend’s wife’s swiftness, it wasn’t long before his comb-over fell to the floor. His friend, who he mentioned but did not name in a BBC interview, then told him, “Now you be yourself. No more hiding”. That’s some real friendship. The encounter and advice changed Stewart’s life.
It wasn’t long before he landed his starring role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the Gene Roddenberry production of Star Trek, leading majestically with his unapologetic bald head.
