Anton Du Beke has revealed how having a hair transplant has “transformed his life”.
The Strictly Come Dancing professional underwent a procedure to alter his hairline in 2018.
Speaking on Steph’s Packed Lunch on Monday, Anton said the pain of the operation was less than that of “looking into the mirror and seeing your hairline disappearing”.
“I started to lose my hair a few years ago. Every time I looked in the mirror it’s all I could see,” he said. “I had a period of time when I tried to do all my photos in profile…It’s sort of always on your mind. It starts to consume you.”
Asked if losing his hair knocked his confidence, the dancer said: “It does in certain aspects, not as a performer… In normal life.
“You’re either OK with it or you’re not OK with it, so if you know you’re not OK with it then, for me, it was a case of do something about it.
“I was playing golf with Jimmy Nesbitt, who’s famously had hair transplants, and I went to his guy. It immediately transformed my life. All of that stuff that was going on went away.
“It is a painful procedure, so you accept it for what it is. It doesn’t hurt as much as looking into the mirror and seeing your hairline disappearing.”
Discussing his decision to speak openly about the procedure, he said: “I owned it, I would talk about it… I had no interest in pretending.
“I wanted to go ‘Look, I’ve had a bit of crop rotation, I’ve ripped a bit from the back and shoved it on the front’.”
Anton was recently announced as one of the professional dancers returning to Strictly Come Dancing when its 19th series launches later this year.
In 2020, he was temporarily promoted to the judging panel to cover for Motsi Mabuse when she was unexpectedly forced to quarantine and miss two weeks of live shows.
Steph’s Packed Lunch airs daily at 12.30pm on Channel 4.