Sarah Palin Underweight, Anxious, Needed "Emergency Help" For Thinning Hair: New York Times

Update: Sarah Palin's hairdresser speaks! 9 days after the Times pondered the possible reasons for Sarah Palin's sudden withdrawal from the Alaskan governorship, at least one thing has become clear: it wasn't really a hair emergency. "It wasn't like I did an intervention,'' Jessica Steele, Palin's long time friend and hairdresser, told the Boston Globe in a phone interview from her Wasilla beauty parlor, the Beehive. "I think the combination of traveling and just being down there in the lower 48... We needed to get her back to shiny.''

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The New York Times has a lengthy story on Sarah Palin in Monday's edition, examining the personal and political pressures that may have driven her to resign her governorship.

The article, like many others before it, describes Palin's political operation as largely dysfunctional, to the point that prominent Republican adviser Fred Malek felt the need to personally urge her to have someone "set up a mechanism so you can return calls."

"You are getting a bad rap," he recalled saying. "Important people are trying to talk to you. And she said, 'What number are they calling?' She did not know what had been happening."

The piece describes Palin as obsessed with her critics, and under severe strain from souring relationships with Alaska legislators and encounters with the national media and paparazzi. Perhaps the strangest details of the story come from accounts from Palin's friends about her physical deterioration:

Friends worried that she appeared anxious and underweight. Her hair had thinned to the point where she needed emergency help from her hairdresser and close friend, Jessica Steele.

Read the full story here.

Comments

[repugnicansfearme]

OMG! Thinning hair! Not that! Now, please-- in the name of humanity, stop picking on this woman. For the sake of her hair! Actually, keep it up, let's see if the right wing nutjobs like her bald.

[blkcat x lady]

lol.... Are you kidding? The powers that be in the gop love her because of her "hotness" to them and losing her hair...well, not acceptable. Forget the fact that she has "nuffin" under the hair in the scalp that has the "brainy-stuff"...just make sure that she covers it with lovely locks that she can swing away while winking and blinking! hehe

[Darcy24]

Womens' hair can sometimes fall out or thin after the birth of a child, as the body readjusts to a lower hormonal level. That type of hair loss can go on for a year, even with treatment. For an older mother, this would not be too surprising. Mrs. Palin may have had stress, but that probably wasn't the only factor there.

[audadvnc]

Hair loss may be from her hormonal shifts. But more likely it's the stress is getting to her. She willingly chose the confrontational champion persona, but she can't keep up with the pressures. I remember being in a high-stress position and notice my hair came out in clumps while showering.

[CityGardner]

This may be a blessing in disguise for everyone concerned. If her hair is falling out, then plain old-fashioned vanity may save her, and us, from having to witness any more embarrassing displays of bloated ego and impoverished intelligence which have so far distinguished her public life.

[poochytown]

Weird but true.

[boobarella]

Im sorry, I just do not feel sorry for her. She has brought most of the sour notes onto herself. If she had been a decent candidate, with knowledge and optinions people cared about it would be a different story. All I saw in her was hatred and ignorance. She needs to stop complaining and buckle down and learn something if she is ever going to have a political future.

[rob2007]

Sarah Palin has probably been a responsibility averse, finger-pointer since losing Miss Alaska.

[demofem]

This has the ring of truth. She certainly looked like a nervous wreck in her resignation announcement. We can be eternally thankful that such a personally and professionally unqualified person was not elected to national office. I'd feel sorry for her, but even her resignation was full of petty resentments and self-serving twists of logic, so....If we ignore her, will she go away?

[ozwald888]

I can understand the concern her friends had for her hair. After all, palin had a state to run, a new kid, and a political party to underwhelm. So naturally, the major concern her friends had for palin was her hair was thinning, and needed a new haircut to hide this world-shaking event.

Does this group of North Pole Nitwits EVER get tired of being so outright unimpressive??

[sullavox]

If she's getting stressed from bad media attention and the Gov. job, what makes her think she could handle being a President. That job is 100 times harder and you have worldwide media attention, and it would be even more unflattering.

[Hammerofthor]

New York Times needs emergency help. Sarah is doing well and looking good.

[manyamile]

could it be she lost weight in preparation for all these recent glammy , glossy magazine shoots?

[bluejean1951]

Sarah, whilst you might think it's a good idea to keep your own counsel and play the VICTIM as often as possible...there are people who advise pols for a living and they all agree; this is a losing strategy for you girlfriend, so give up the ghost and stop trying to play the sympathy card every 5 minutes.

You come off as weak and unsuitable for national office, instead of the tragic, romantic, poltical figure you fancy yourself to be. Your not the star of your own dime novel darling.

These antics and testimonies from those close to you, being leaked in drips, may in fact rouse your base and keep your name in the news daily, but I don't know if you've noticed lately; that base has shrunk considerably over the course of the past year.

Maybe you just hadn't noticed, since you probably haven't bothered yourself with such a nasty thing as a reality check in order to discover that for yourself.

[ddemos]

Oh, puleeeze...the victim thing is so revolting...and she's too stupid to know how to receive phone messages from 'important' people? Unfortunately, it didn't stop her in the beginning of her rise to fame when she deliberately courted Bill Kristol, et.al...

It didn't end up as easy as you thought it would be to coast through this Sarah, so put your big girl pants on and stop whining. Wow, it's difficult to believe this woman is a mother to so many children, as she still acts like one.

[G-guy]

I tend to feel more sympathy for the Alaskan moose,
as she hovers above them, with a 12 gauge shotgun......

[Walcraeb]

I really don't enjoy reading personally invasive stories that make me feel anything remotely approaching sympathy for this woman.

Let's learn the lesson she could never grasp: Personal on one side, Professional on the other.

[mvonkroeker]

Ditto--- this trainwreck's been going on for too long!! Palin should be in the Guiness Book of World Records for getting the most out of her 15 minutes of fame!!

[oldgeek1]

Thinning hair? How does she think the rest of us feel from pulling our hair out!

Thanks for helping to make the once proud and competent Republican Party a joke.