Clare Bowen: ‘Self-Esteem Takes a Lot Longer to Grow Back Than Hair’
“I was really inspired when I heard a story about a little girl who said she couldn’t be a princess because she didn’t have long hair, and I wanted her, and others like her to know that’s not what makes a princess, or a warrior, or a superhero.” (Photo: Facebook)
Australian actress Clare Bowen, who is known for her portrayal of Scarlett O'Connor on Nashville, just chopped off all her hair — with the support of the show producers. On Wednesday night, she debuted her pixie cut on Facebook with a photo that included the words “It’s Just Hair” after hearing about a little girl who thought she couldn’t be a princess because she had short hair. “I wanted her, and others like her to know that’s not what makes a princess, or a warrior, or a superhero. It’s not what makes you beautiful either,” Bowen wrote on Facebook. “It’s your insides that count… even if you happen to be missing half of them.”
Bowen explained that when she was four years old, she was diagnosed with end stage nephroblastoma — a type of cancer — forcing her to spend many days in the hospital, which her grandfather called the White Palace with other sick children. “We were mostly bald, all tubed, taped, bandaged up and stitched back together. We were all missing parts, some obvious like eyes or legs, others more hidden, like lungs and kidneys,” she wrote. “But we were all together, so no one’s appearance came into question. No one got laughed at or teased. We were all we knew.”
Clare Bowen as Scarlett O’Connor. (Photo: Courtesy of ABC/Disney)
Bowen, as we know, ended up recovering eventually, with her hair growing back. “I look relatively normal on the outside, but on the inside, I am still the same stitched back together little creature, in a world where people are judged so harshly for the way they look,” she revealed. Bowen called for people to “[l]ook deeper than skin, hair, nails, and lips. You are who you are in your bones.” She concluded her Facebook post with the line, “Self-esteem takes a lot longer to grow back than hair.” On the show, Bowen portrays a sweetheart country music performer, but off screen, she’s a hero.
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