A cancer survivor who lost her hair to chemotherapy says her close friend booted her from her bridal party because she refuses to wear a wig.
The cancer survivor, a Redditor, shared her story on the site on Monday to complain about her friend-turned-bridezilla, who seemed more concerned with how her photos would turn out than the Redditor’s feelings.
She said that when the bride recently took her out to ‘celebrate’ her remission, she included a surprise stop at a wig store — and soon after the Redditor declined to get one, she found herself kicked out of the wedding party.
Rude! A cancer survivor who lost her hair to chemotherapy says her close friend booted her from her bridal party because she refuses to wear a wig (stock image)
For the sake of the story, the Redditor calls the bride ‘Karen,’ and explains that she got engaged a year and a half ago and immediately asked her to be a bridesmaid.
Karen was maid of honor at her own wedding.
‘To make a long story short, I got some real bad news in the past year and had to undergo radiation and chemotherapy,’ she wrote, adding that the whole thing has been ‘traumatic.’
‘My hair fell out and I am recovering but my hair is still very short,’ she said.
Through this time, the Redditor has been ‘very active in the survivor community,’ fundraising and speaking out publicly. Karen, a nurse, has been ‘super supportive’ — until now.
‘About 2 weeks ago Karen called me and told me she was going to take me out to celebrate my remission and end of treatment and had a special surprise for me,’ she said.
‘We go to a spa which was super nice and enjoy some skin treatments, massages, and general pampering.
‘At the end of the day she takes me to a special hair salon which specializes in high quality wigs. I am a little taken aback by this because Karen knows that a lot of the work I have been involves psychological treatment in cancer patients and avoiding the shame associated with hair loss for instance.’
I feel confident with my look now and felt strange with the wigs on. Just didn’t feel like me
She added later: ‘I don’t have any problem with people wearing wigs, I just would feel like a hypocrite counseling others and then putting on a wig just to look good for other peoples pictures.
‘I feel confident with my look now and felt strange with the wigs on. Just didn’t feel like me.’
Still, she politely went through with the appointment and tried on wigs, despite being ‘quite upset’ about the whole thing.
When Karen offered to buy her one, she declined.
On Sunday, Karen called her and said she can no longer be in the bridal party, blaming the minister and saying he insisted there were too many people.
‘This completely floors me because basically I am her number 2 girl after her sister (who she barely gets a long with),’ she wrote.
‘I call around and it although some of the other bridesmaids are reluctant to tell me anything hint at the fact that Karen was worried about how the pictures are going to look with someone with a bald head.’
When she spoke to the bride again, she insist ‘it was definitely not because of my hair but because the minister was adamant that six [bridesmaids] was too many.’
The bride also went on to accuse the Redditor of being an uninvolved friend through the past year — when she was battling cancer.
She said that she knows I am going through a lot but that my personality “has changed” and that I’m not the friend she knows from childhood
‘She went on to say that I have been really distant the past year and that I didn’t seem interested in helping her with the wedding which is why she decided to select me to be off the wedding party. She said she helped me a lot and that I’m not returning the favor by being a team player.
‘She said that she knows I am going through a lot but that my personality “has changed” and that I’m not the friend she knows from childhood.’
What’s more, the bride mentioned the wig again, which seemed to indicate that the Redditor could rejoin the wedding party if she’d just change her mind.
The Redditor is so upset that she is considering skipping the wedding — which is in two weeks — altogether.
Since she posted, she has received waves of support from other Reddit users, who are horrified by the bride’s behavior.