“If I just showed up on TV the next time or on the pod and I had hair, it’s going to be f–king weird, right?” he explained to The Athletic. “You can’t just show up and be like, ‘Hey, look at me!’ I’m going to have to talk about it at some point. So I just figured just be transparent with it.”

In addition to the confidence Donovan now feels thanks to his new hair, he’s also found support from people who have experienced the same insecurities.

“You have no idea the messages I’ve received,” he shared. “I had no idea how many people deal with this and feel like I did. I could read you thousands of messages from people saying, ‘Thank you so much, I’ve dealt with this.’”

Donovan added, “It’s been really powerful, honestly. And that was not at all in any way the intention. But it’s been a really nice side effect.”

For more stars who have debuted epic hair transformations over the years, keep reading…