Christine Gentry

And I had let him see me at my most exposed, my most vulnerable, and what I thought was my most ugly, and he had loved me anyway.

And he had turned that love against me,

he would do things like snatch my hair off during fights, because he knew that it would just break me.

And I left that relationship with these two very deep fears, right?

The first was that if anyone ever got into that space again, they would hurt me.

And the second was that no one would ever love me for who I really am anyway.

And that night on the train, I was like, this is proof.

What just happened to me is proof that I'm right.

And I resolved to make this my deepest, darkest secret.

And when he emailed me the next day and asked to see me again, I said no.

And I went on to date several people.

I would date people for months and they would never know because I got really good at redirecting hands.

And I got really good at sneaking out of beds to fix my eyebrows and my eyelashes while they were asleep.

And I would ruin $3,000 wigs by sleeping in them night after night after night because I felt so ugly without them.

And if anyone ever found out, I would just bounce before they got a chance to leave me.

And then last month, you guys, last month, Ayanna Pressley,

The Congresswoman whose district we're in right now, she did something so incredible.

She posted a video where she revealed that she'd been wearing wigs because of the same condition.

And it was so brave.

And it was so beautiful.