Turning White

In his thought-provoking memoir, Turning White, Emmy Award-winning TV broadcaster Lee Thomas shares the physical and mental battle he is waging with vitiligo — a skin disorder that is literally turning him white.

At age 25, Thomas had a dream job in a dream city — a feature/entertainment reporter for the ABC network’s flagship TV station in New York. Then he discovered a few white spots on his scalp, the small beginnings of a disease that has spread to half his face — a fact he covers with makeup when on camera.

As someone in the very public eye, vitiligo has transformed not only Thomas’ color, but his life. “Even people who have known me for years avoid eye contact when they see my face without makeup for the first time,” he writes.