Stephen Miller's Jarring 2018 Colored Hairspray Fail Will Haunt Him Forever
In 2018, Stephen Miller made a dire mistake: He showed up for an interview on CBS News' "Face the Nation" segment sans his famous bald spot, despite the whole world knowing that he has one. What made matters significantly worse was that Miller's new mane wasn't even actual hair — it was very obviously artificial. In fact, it looked like the White House staffer had made a quick stop for some fake hair spray on his way to the interview. The artificial hair didn't quite match his natural color, and it was glaringly evident where the sprayed-on illusion met his remaining mane. Unsurprisingly, the look made headlines, with late night talk show host Stephen Colbert dedicating a whole segment of his eponymous show to discussing Miller's disastrous 'do.
"You can't really hear a word he's saying over the sound of you looking at his sprayed-on hair," Colbert quipped (via YouTube). The hairspray fail left plenty of folks scratching their heads, and in 2021, snaps of Miller's "Face the Nation" interview started making the rounds on X, formerly known as Twitter, once again, with one netizen joking, "Remember when Stephen Miller spray-painted his bald head to go on national TV? That doesn't get talked about enough." In fact, PR expert Rob Pickard expressed his surprise at his decision to risk going on TV with sprayed-on hair at all.
He pointed out, "I've coached and prepped hundreds of leaders for television interviews over the years, but none of the balding ones has ever sprayed on their hair. Lots of laser treatments and facial injections have been apparent, but no artificial turf up top (at least not yet)." Apparently, Miller strives to be the exception.
Stephen Miller seems to be very self-conscious about his appearance
California Governor Gavin Newsom has compared Stephen Miller to Voldemort on several occasions, and the resemblance is uncanny, chiefly because of his balding head. The White House deputy chief of staff might have reason to be self-conscious of his continually thinning mane — before and after pictures of Stephen Miller's hair loss are quite shocking, and they indicate that he might be completely bald sooner rather than later. The Trump staffer's hair woes aren't new, however; he's dealt with thinning hair since he was 17. In a clip that resurfaced on X in July 2025, a young Miller offers his views on the Iraq War, and also discusses his receding hairline.
The politician professed that he considers himself "pretty sexy" but added, "My hair is just receding. I look like I'm 35, and a balding 35-year-old at that." Miller's doctor told him to sleep more but he didn't seem to take the advice too seriously — at his peril, as it turned out. The homeland security advisor has only grown more concerned about his appearance ever since. Aside from his sprayed-on hair, Stephen Miller's wife exposed another bizarre habit of his that hints he's even more narcissistic than even President Donald Trump, and the infamous 2025 Vanity Fair shoot featuring his adminisration's top staffers brought out Miller's insecurities.
Photographer Christopher Anderson told the Washington Post that Trump's henchman was anything but confident when the time came to do the big portrait shoot. "Stephen Miller was perhaps the most concerned about the portrait session," Anderson confirmed. "He asked me, 'Should I smile or not smile?' and I said, 'How would you want to be portrayed?' We agreed that we would do a bit of both." Miller ended up looking like a supervillain instead.