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TV star Melanie Sykes has revealed she is “two-thirds bald” after being diagnosed with an autoimmune condition.
The former I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! star opened up about her health battle in a video posted on Instagram.
She told fans: “I’m not well, as you know, I’ve been ill all year, I’ve got an autoimmune condition, I am losing my hair, I keep having crazy inflammation all over and I am working on healing.”
Sykes described herself as “living a very, very, very spiritual existence” and added: “In the last three months, I’ve done a meditation teacher training course.
“I was too ill to finish it, like literally the last two days of it I couldn’t do.”
“I’m in so much pain but I wanted to say hello,” she added. “I’m two-thirds bald, really. Every time I say,I’m bald I laugh, I don’t know why… Thank god I can laugh. “
The update comes after Sykes revealed in April that she was suffering from heart issues and alopecia triggered by “PTSD from the TV industry”.
The 55-year-old TV presenter, who stepped away from mainstream broadcasting in 2021, said in a video on her YouTube channel that she developed an irregular heartbeat and “rapid” hair loss when the press began “harassing” her when allegations surfaced against TV chef Gino D’Acampo.
“I went into the New Year with so much energy. I’ve slowed things down because I got a heart problem, which I developed during the whole Gino D’Acampo bull**** that happened in the news,” Sykes said in the video. “And suddenly, the stress levels in my life shot up because I left that industry years ago but it won’t leave me alone.”
Sykes worked with D’Acampo on the ITV series Let’s Do Lunch with Gino and Mel from 2011 to 2014.
open image in gallery
Sykes in 2019 (Ian West/PA) (PA Archive)
The chef has denied claims that he made sexualised comments and gestures to female employees behind the scenes of his popular programmes.
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After leaving broadcasting, Sykes was diagnosed with ADHD and autism. She published a book in 2023 titled Illuminated: Autism and All The Things I Left Unsaid.
