‘I feel so free’: MLA Ronna-Rae Leonard removes wig at caucus retreat

A Vancouver Island MLA is being praised for her bravery after she removed her wig in front of fellow caucus members. MLA Ronna-Rae Leonard has Alopecia, and says the support she’s received has been heartwarming.

“I got up and I told them that I needed to rely on them for support and how they together give me strength to take this step and, and I took off my wig. It’s actually kind of hard to talk about, because it was such warmth in the room and acceptance.”

Leonard says that after she made the choice, she felt a distinct change in her life.

“I feel so free,” she says. “This morning as I was getting ready to go into work, I turned to my husband and I said, I just I can’t believe how light I feel.”

“I just feel that much lighter and just very much freer and to be who I am and not to be weighed down by the expectations for women to look in a certain way.”

1/ I made a change this weekend.
 
After being diagnosed with Alopecia a number of years ago I chose to wear a wig. I had been dreading the thought of taking it off, but it was time. This weekend, while with my colleagues, I took my wig off. And I am so glad I did. pic.twitter.com/9bHjlblYUl

— Ronna-Rae Leonard (@RonnaRaeLeonard) June 27, 2022

Leonard’s journey with Alopecia began almost 10 years ago when she started to notice her hairline receding, and after a doctor’s appointment, was diagnosed with Frontal Fibrosing Alopecia.

“At first it was fine. I had a great hairdresser in Comox who would definitely give me a hairstyle that masked the hair loss,” she explains.

“It got to a point though, where I was uncomfortable, particularly being outside in the wind, because it would not matter what your hairstyle is, if the wind blows your hair up.”

That’s when she decided it was time to get a wig, but she says it took her six months to use it.

“I was very nervous about putting it on and still feeling like I’m being authentic,” she says.

However, over time, she realized that as a woman in politics especially, she had a chance to show others the importance of being authentic.

“It was time, it was time to take it off.”

“For young women, particularly, who are out in the world that they need to feel it’s okay to feel their full selves” she explains.

She says in the winter she may choose to wear a wig again, and hopes that people embrace that as well.

“I don’t want to feel embarrassed about it again, anymore than I want to feel embarrassed about taking it off,” she says, adding “that’s what I want to see in our world, where people’s otherness is totally accepted.”