Former Hollyoaks star Ali Bastian has opened up about losing her hair in a candid interview amid her breast cancer battle.
The actress, 42, who is best known for playing Becca Dean in the Channel 4 soap from 2001 to 2007, was told by doctors in June that she had stage two breast cancer.
Ali, who is currently being treated with chemotherapy, before she will undergo a mastectomy and radiotherapy, recently shared the emotional moment she shaved her hair off.
Now, Ali has admitted she feared she would 'lose her identity' along with her hair after shaving her head.
She told The Sun's Fabulous magazine: 'I trot around with a bald head all the time at home.
But I'd had this fear that becoming bald from chemo was me 'becoming' a cancer patient, and that was all anyone would see.
'I thought it would be like losing my identity.'
Former Hollyoaks star Ali Bastian has opened up about losing her hair in a candid interview amid her breast cancer battle
The actress, 42, who is best known for playing Becca Dean in the Channel 4 soap from 2001 to 2007, was told by doctors in June that she had stage two breast cancer
But Ali revealed the first time she took her wig off, it only felt like a big deal for 'a split second'.
She added: 'Then it felt all right, and then it just felt normal. I'm hot and my bald head needs some air!'
Ali also admitted she has struggled to reconcile that the breasts that nurtured her daughters are putting her life at risk
She found it tough to 'give her boobs some love' at the beginning: 'I've worked really hard to feel compassion for my breasts and therefore myself, but sometimes that's been difficult.'
The update comes just after Ali took to Instagram to post a heartbreaking video showing the moment she cut her hair off last month.
Set to The Greatest Showman ballad 'This is Me,' Ali explained how it was 'a small price to pay for the chance to be well again' before admitting she will be 'forever changed'.
With the help of her husband David O'Mahony who cut Ali's hair, the actress could be seen bravely smiling to the camera before shaving it off.
The update comes just after Ali took to Instagram to post a heartbreaking video showing the moment she cut her hair off earlier this month
Set to The Greatest Showman ballad 'This is Me,' Ali explained how it was 'a small price to pay for the chance to be well again' before admitting she will be 'forever changed'
She wrote: 'Hair loss is just one aspect of all of this that we all wish wasn't a side effect but I know it's not forever and a small price to pay for the chance to be well again'
She then revealed her new look and in one candid shot, cuddled up to her youngest daughter, Isla, four.
'When you have breast cancer, every month is breast cancer awareness month' she wrote in the caption. 'Hair loss is just one aspect of all of this that we all wish wasn't a side effect but I know it's not forever and a small price to pay for the chance to be well again.'
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She continued: 'The deeper I get into my treatment, the more I see this as an outward expression of how stripped back and raw it feels right now. Also sharing as this feels like part of my way… not 'back' to myself… as I will be forever changed… but forward towards my future …to show up as I am right now. In the truth of today.
She added: 'For all of the warrior women going through this. You are not alone. #breastcancerawareness'
Celebrities including Lizzie Cundy, Suzanne Shaw, Sarah Dent, Alexandra Burke and Strictly Come Dancing's Karen Hauer and Ola Jordan took to the comment section to send their love. They wrote:
'You are so amazing Ali. Sending you so much love and strength my lovely friend' and 'Always beautiful'.
'You are so beautiful So brave and a truly amazing human! Sending you so much love'.
'Sending you much love xxxxxx all my prayers are with you' and' 'Thinking of you Ali'.
Ali pictured above in Hollyoaks
In her post, Ali called out other women who are going through something similar, reassuring them that they are 'not alone' and nicknamed them 'warrior women'
Alongside famous face, fans, survivors and memek others who are going through their own brave battle wrote words of support:
'So beautiful, Ali, with & without' and 'Shaving my head was one of the hardest things for me. You look amazing!! Keep going you've got this!!'
'love to you Ali ❤️ brave and beautiful xxx'
'In awe of you Ali ❤️ So much strength in the s*t of times!! Thinking of you and sending lots of love! Speak soon xx'
Ali - who now lives in Ireland with her husband and two young daughters told OK! Magazine of her diagnosis: 'It was a total shock. I have mornings when I wake up and I've forgotten… and then suddenly I remember. I'm still trying to process it.'
Ali was breastfeeding daughter Isabella, 19 months - her youngest child with husband David O'Mahony - when she came across a lump.
The mother-of-two - who also raises Isla, four, with her husband - shared: 'I hadn't been breastfeeding Izzy at night but then David flew back to London for work and suddenly she was feeding like crazy. I was thinking, 'Maybe she's having a growth spurt or something.'
'And because of that, my boobs felt sore. The next morning, I woke up and thought, 'Ouch, this really hurts.' And that's when I felt a lump.'
Ali assumed she had a 'blocked duct' and was given a course of antibiotics, but it wasn't clearing up, so on her doctor's advice, she headed to a breast clinic.
She continued: 'It was a bank holiday in Ireland, so I went straight to the emergency doctor.
'It really seemed like I had mastitis, especially as I had been night-weaning Izzy before that. We thought I probably had a blocked duct.
Ali married her partner, West End actor David (pictured), in 2019. The couple are parents to Isla (pictured) and Isabella
'The doctor gave me antibiotics and said that if it didn't clear up in a few days I should go to the breast clinic.
'But it wasn't clearing up and the more I felt it, the more it felt like this wasn't just a blocked duct.
'I went to my GP and I said, 'Actually, can I go to the clinic now?' and she was very supportive of that.'
Ali received the shock news via telephone but was reassured after being told they have 'intent to cure' her.
She is set to undergo a single mastectomy and is still waiting to hear if doing double is a good idea as a 'preventative measure'.