An iconic actor from Home and Away has admitted to having health issues after online trolls shamed him on his looks.
Kyle Shilling, who plays hunky Mali on the Aussie show which airs on Channel 5, took to Instagram on Friday (March 22) to open up on his health woes. In the post, he explained to fans that he was diagnosed with a disease to his auto-immune system.
Shilling, who has been on the soap since 2023, revealed that he was forced to open up on his health battles after several viewers complained to him about his facial hair. The actor, who became the show’s first ever indigenous star, pointed out that his facial hair was triggered as a result of the condition.
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Writing in the caption, he said: “For all those Home and Away fans complaining about my beard line. Not too long ago I was diagnosed with alopecia on the beard region, mainly my neck.
(Image: Instagram/ @blacx_13_kyleshilling)
“Alopecia is a hair loss disease which can be caused by stress,” he continued. “The makeup team at Home and Away do the best they can do to cover up this ‘insecurity’ I now have.”
Shilling added that he is receiving treatment to help stop the disease from spreading to other parts of his body, but accepted that “for now it is what it is”. Kyle also said that he was not looking for sympathy from people, but rather wanted to bring attention to alopecia and what it can do to those who develop the condition.
Kyle has been a member of the cast since December last year, taking on the role of Mali Hudson. The hunky actor beamed with joy at the time when he confirmed he would be becoming a more of a fixture in the cast.
(Image: Channel 5)
“It’s official ladies and gentleman. Stoked to be part of the amazing family/team of Home and Away,” he gushed as he celebrated landing the new part.
While the specific branch of alopecia Kyle suffers from has not been disclosed, alopecia is a wide ranging condition that can affect anyone. One type of alopecia – which is the general medical term for hair loss – alopecia areata, is caused when the body begins to attack its own healthy hair.
Currently, alopecia areata has no cure and doctors cannot predict how much hair someone is going to lose as soon as the the problems begin. However, in more reassuring statistics, there is a 60-80% chance that the hair will grow back in the patches where it had dropped out, albeit much thinner than previous.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
