Olivia Munn is a Trichster

Olivia Munn (photo by Misha Erwitt for NY Daily News)

I'm a little slow on the uptake here, but a few weeks ago, actress Olivia Munn "came out" as having trichotillomania. She didn't arrange a press conference or anything, but she happened to mention it in an interview with the New York Daily News.

Her exact quote:

“I don’t bite my nails, but I rip out my eyelashes. It doesn’t hurt, but it’s really annoying. Every time I run out of the house, I have to stop and pick up a whole set of fake eyelashes.” 
- Olivia Munn, interview with the NY Daily News

For a couple of days, the story was on all the news websites and celebrity gossip sites. If you Google Olivia Munn right now, 2 weeks after the original article, there are still a couple of sites mentioning it on the first page of search results.

And what was the internet's reaction to this breaking news?

A great big "Meh."

Which I think is a good thing!

Really, no one said "OMG So nasty!" or "Whoever has that disorder should be rounded up and shot!" A lot of people commented on the sites that they, too, have the disorder and were glad a celebrity felt like she could talk openly about something that is normally hidden.

Only one site was even borderline offensive about it, and that was Celebitchy's article Olivia Munn Suffers from Trichotillomania. The worst part was this quote:

"She’s also a plucker. But in the grossest, most neurotic way ever. Olivia has just admitted that she suffers from Trichotillomania – compulsive eyelash-pulling."

Which didn't even bother me that much. Because honestly, what do you expect from a name like "Celebitchy?"

Another good thing about it was that the Huffington Post was inspired by this bit of "news" to write an informational article on trichotillomania: Trichotillomania: What Is The Disorder That Makes Olivia Munn Rip Out Her Eyelashes?

So, like many people with trichotillomania, Olivia Munn probably won't lose many friends or fans over this admission. Personally, I've never lost any friends after admitting to them that I pull out my eyelashes. Hopefully not many of you have, either.

If you liked her before, you probably still like her. If you didn't like her before, then it doesn't really matter, does it?

Know Thyself - Trichotillomania and the Bible

I'm not much into Biblical allusions, but I am into pithy aphorisms that give great advice. "Know Thyself" is excellent advice for trichsters. You have to be self-aware and recognize your triggers for pullling.

For me, I know that when I lean my elbows on a desk, table, or any flat surface that I'm using to read or work, my hand is at just the right position to reach my eyelashes. And that's a bad thing. So I try to read with my arms stretched out, leaning back. Just to be safe, I put something small in both hands to try to distract them from the compulsion to pull. Because I know myself. If I prevent myself from starting, it's much easier to continue than if I try to stop in the middle of a pulling spree.

Do you know thyself?

Trichotillomania/Hair Pulling Quotes and Quotations

(Sort of)

A hair on the head is worth two on the brush.
Irish Proverb

But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Bible, Matthew x. 30.

You do not lament the loss of hair of one who has been beheaded.
Joseph Stalin

I love getting ready to do a scene, and thinking about it, and talking about it. But the rest of the time, I'm so nervous and obsessed. I'm just tearing my hair out in the trailer. The whole time I'm really tense.
Casey Affleck

Prejudice is like a hair across your cheek. You can't see it, you can't find it with your fingers, but you keep brushing at it because the feel of it is irritating.
Marian Anderson

I wish I had more hair on my head. Maybe if I sprinkled fertilizer on it, it would grow.
Kylie Bax

I'm the artist formally known as Beck. I have a genius wig. When I put that wig on, then the true genius emerges. I don't have enough hair to be a genius. I think you have to have hair going everywhere.
Beck

In mainstream romantic comedies, I'm usually tearing my hair out. It's just a devastatingly difficult genre for me.
Carter Burwell

It is foolish to tear one's hair in grief, as though sorrow would be made less by baldness.
Marcus Tullius Cicero

I guess if I wrote a book one day, it would be about hair.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus

A hair divides what is false and true.
Omar Khayyam

Let the devil catch you but by a single hair, and you are his forever.
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Sources:

http://www.quotationspage.com/
http://www.brainyquote.com/