Mel Sykes reveals devastating battle with alopecia as she says she’s ‘lost half her hair’ amid health struggle
MELANIE Sykes has revealed she is battling alopecia and heart issues in a candid post about her health.
The stunning presenter, 54, took to instagram to bravely share a snap of herself with a bald spot on the side of her head, and explained to her followers what she has been going through.
She wrote: “This is a pic of me I took last week whilst in London investigating some health issues.
“I am experiencing alopecia and heart issues due to all that has happened over the last few months. PTSD, shock, mistreatment and malpractice.”
Mel went on to urge health professionals to do better, revealing she has struggled to get the care she has needed.
Mel explained: “This country must do better, and get better. Our health services are utterly shocking bar a few and rare decent humans who listen without prejudice and judgement. It is a lottery who you will encounter and how that experience can play out.”
Despite her ordeal, however, she insisted she is “full of love, hope and happiness” as she navigates this latest challenge.
In a separate video on her YouTube channel, Mel went into more detail, claiming she has struggled with stress and insomnia since the allegations came out about her former colleague, Gino D’Acampo.
Gino has been accused of numerous allegations of inappropriate and intimidating behaviour over a 12 year period – something he strongly denies.
Mel worked closely with Gino on ITV’s Let’s Do Lunch and has spoken about her own experiences with “misogyny” in the industry.
Having now left the TV business, Mel claims these stories resurfacing has lead to an irregular heartbeat and hair loss.
Mel said: “I am experiencing alopecia in quite a significant way. I have lost inches off my hairline at the back. I have probably got half my hair at the moment.”
She continued: “The night that it all broke about Gino D’Acampo, I didn’t sleep a wink…I remember thinking, god if I can’t sleep because it has brought everything back to me, how the f*** is he feeling? I actually felt sorry for him.
She continued: “What he has said and does, and alleged to have said and done…. It’s so heinous. He must feel like s*** about himself, unless he’s a complete narcissist and thinks that’s okay.
“Who knows, I’m not a psychotherapist and I haven’t studied him but I’ve experienced him.”
Mel added that she has been seeing a scalp specialist who believes her hair will grow back and she is having treatment.
She went on to say she has seen several cardiologists about her “dodgy ticker” but felt like she was continually dismissed because she has autism and ADHD – until she found a specialist that took her seriously.
“I’m having a heart monitor sent to the house and I have got to wear it for two days to monitor the sound of it, ” she explained.
In the meantime, she claimed she uses cannabis under the supervision of her medical team as it helps, as well as working on addressing the “trauma” she has been through.
Mel and Gino hosted Let’s Do Lunch with Gino and Mel together from 2011-2014 and both also appeared on Celebrity Juice.
She previously said: “Celebrity Juice was an abomination, the industry creates monsters.
“I remember once when Gino said to me he can just go up to the powers that be and knock on the door and go in, he doesn’t need a meeting.
‘He was quite pleased with himself that he could do that”
Mel has also claimed she quit the TV industry for good in 2021 after an inappropriate remark from shamed Masterchef judge Gregg Wallace.
“I feel like I was in a war zone in that industry – 24 years of battling through an industry that didn’t feel right to me anyway,” she has said.
“If you’re spending all your time cleaning up people’s s***, just clean the house, clean out the house and start again, that’s all I’m saying.”