Melanie Sykes has shown the extent of her alopecia after revealing she has been left two-thirds bald since being diagnosed with an autoimmune condition.
The former Des and Mel presenter, who stepped away from mainstream broadcasting in 2021, shares frequent updates on her health with fans via social media.
In her latest video, the 55-year-old faces the camera before turning her face to either side and showing her hair loss.
In the caption, she wrote: “#Liberty.”
In a previous update, Sykes told fans she had tried on wigs to cover her hair loss.
“As much as I love using my head scarves, I cannot wait to get some hair,” she wrote.
“My hair has been coming out really quickly in the last few weeks and even at this stage (I’ve been losing hair for about a year and half) it can feel alarming.”
Sykes said last year that she had been left “two-thirds bald” after months of ill-health.
In a video posted on Instagram in December 2025, she told fans she was “working on healing” amid the hair loss and “crazy inflammation all over”.
Describing herself as “living a very, very, very spiritual existence”, she 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 continued. “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.”
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 day
New subscribers only. £9.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled.
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 day
New subscribers only. £9.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled.
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
Sykes previously said in a new-deleted 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. “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.
The chef has denied claims that he made sexualised comments and gestures to female employees behind the scenes of his popular programmes.