Matt Lucas almost lost for words as he finally meets childhood hero on live TV
Matt Lucas finally met his childhood hero, Duncan Goodhew, while appearing on The One Show.
The actor, comic and author was on the TV sofa to discuss his new memoir, Little Me (My Life from A-Z).
In the new book, Matt discusses losing his hair to alopecia as a six year old.
He explained that as a child he had struggled with bullying over his image, and wrote to Olympic swimmer Goodhew, who is also bald, for support.
The popular athlete responded by sending him a “bald is beautiful” badge and a best wishes message.
“I kind of became famous in my town as ‘the kid with no hair,’” he joked to presenters Alex Jones and Amol Rajan.
“I started wearing a wig at age 11 on the NHS, because I wanted to fit in more easily at secondary school and the wig was so big it was bigger than my head.
“I arrived at my last day of primary school to try the wig out.
“On my first day, a kid ran past me, whipped it off and threw it on the ground.
“But he was right – I didn’t need that wig,” the Little Britain creator said.
Host Amol replied: “I read that swimmer Duncan Goodhew used to write to you to show support – is that true?”
“I wrote a letter to Duncan when I was 7 or 8, and he sent me a lovely handwritten letter with some badges and one said ‘bald is beautiful’ which I used to wear.
“I kept that letter and I’ve never seen him or met him, but it was an incredibly inspirational thing. I don’t think I still have the badge.”
What Matt didn’t know is that his childhood hero was in that very studio waiting to meet him.
The Little Britain creator looked visibly moved, as he struggled to find words to say to his idol.
