Jesus Aceves was born with a rare condition. At 12, he joined the circus and worked globally for many years. Now, back in his hometown with three daughters, they also face hardships due to the hereditary nature of his condition. Let’s see how they look now.
When Jesus Aceves was 12, he joined the circus with two cousins after a circus owner spotted him working at an amusement park during the summer.
Aceves and many family members have a condition called hypertrichosis, making him known as “The Wolf Man” or “The Little Wolf” when he was a kid.
Because of hypertrichosis, Aceves has thick, dark hair all over his face. This also meant that he and his family faced unkind treatment while he was growing up.
His time in the circus wasn’t ideal. As attractions, he and his cousins were kept away so people on the street wouldn’t see them.
Aceves’s relatives were rejected by the residents in the small Mexican town of Loreto, and Aceves himself faced hardships from other kids. They would call him names and pull at his hair, making his childhood difficult.
In the film Chuy, The Wolf Man, directed by Eva Arid and translated by the BBC, Jesus Aceves, known as Chuy, expressed that the circus wasn’t a bad place where money was earned through wrongdoing. From his perspective as an artist, he saw it as a decent job, entertaining people and making them laugh.
Upon returning to his hometown after years of traveling with various circuses, known as “The Wolf Man,” Aceves settled down with his wife, three daughters, and extended family in Loreto. He commuted between the United States and Loreto for a while, performing in the circus to support his family financially.
Unfortunately, his children, especially his oldest daughter Karla, faced discrimination similar to what he endured as a child.
Karla shared her experience: “Sometimes kids will say things that offend me because sometimes adults will put things in children’s heads. They call me names and even tell their kids not to be my friends.”
When Aceves decided to transition away from circus work, finding a conventional job proved challenging due to societal perceptions of his appearance. Despite his wife’s temporary employment, supporting the family financially became difficult. To increase his job prospects, Aceves, who had always avoided shaving his face, decided to take that step.
Aceves and his wife believed this step would enhance his job prospects despite the challenges.
After shaving, he attended multiple job interviews with optimism about securing employment. He also acknowledged that maintaining a shaved face would be a continuous requirement for any job he obtained.
While society tends to judge women more harshly for excessive body hair, Aceves’s wife viewed their family’s condition positively. She saw it as a blessing and expressed, “...for me, it has been a blessing to have a daughter like this. I don’t think it’s a curse. Quite the opposite. It’s a blessing for whoever has hair.”
In contrast to societal norms, Karla embraced her condition, attempting to remove her hair at one point but accepting that it would grow back. She concluded, “I was born like this, and I want to stay like this.” Way to go, girl!
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