Amy Schumer has opened up about having trichotillomania, which causes a person to compulsively pull out their own hair.
The comedian is known for poking fun of herself and talking candidly about her life, but in a new interview with The New Yorker, she described the disorder as the one secret she found 'unspeakable'.
People with trichotillomania, or trich as it's also known, find it almost feels like an addiction, with an intense urge that is only relieved when they pull their hair out.
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Most of those with trich pull hair from their scalp, but they may also do so in other areas such as their eyebrows, eyelashes, genital area, or facial hair.
In Schumer's case, she tends to go for the scalp, as revealed in the interview which says that the 41-year-old actor has a bald spot on top of her head.
"A yarmulke would cover it," she said, adding, "The vulnerability of people knowing I pull my hair out, it feels very raw to me.
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"It’s, you know, bald spots. It’s, like, that’s what a monster and a goblin have."
The publication went on to discuss Schumer's self-deprecating humour, including a recent joke in which she compared her body to that of American football quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger.
"Loving yourself physically—I said all that when I was, like, twenty something,” she said.
"I got a little ahead of myself. It was easy to say I was hot then, because... I was."
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Now she's in her 40s, she said: "I vacillate between feeling really beautiful and special and just that I look like a monster."
This isn't the first time the comedian has shown a vulnerable side to herself, having previously opened up about her struggle with endometriosis.
Schumer, who has a three-year-old son with her husband Chris Fischer, later had to have her uterus and appendix removed.
Posting a video to Instagram last year, she explained her ordeal post-surgery, revealing that the 'doctor found 30 spots of endometriosis that he removed'.
Endometriosis is a long-term condition in which tissue similar to that which lines the womb grows in other places, often resulting in extreme pain and reproductive issues.
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It’s thought to affect as many as 1 in 10 women in the UK, many of whom do not receive a diagnosis for the condition for several years after they first begin experiencing symptoms.
Schumer had spoken about her experience living with endometriosis before, explaining that it had contributed to her having a ‘really tough’ experience with IVF and a challenging pregnancy.
In a follow-up Instagram post, Schumer thanked the doctors who performed the surgery and told her followers: "If you have really painful periods you may have #endometriosis."
If you have been affected by the contents of this article, please find more information and support via Endometriosis UK on their website, Twitter and Instagram
Daisy Phillipson