Jenny Mollen Called 'Disgusting' After Boarding a Flight While She Had Head Lice Infestation

Jenny Mollen is speaking out after documenting her lice infestation while on a five-hour flight. 

The actress and author, 45, first detailed the incident in a video shared to Instagram on Tuesday, Oct. 29, in which she can be seen with a plastic bag on her head. She appears to be sitting in first class while on her flight from Los Angeles to New York City. 

“I’m on a plane with Caroline, and she just looked at my head,” she begins in the video, referring to her travel companion who’s seated beside her. “And remember when I told you last week that I said my head was itchy and I thought I was having perimenopause symptoms?”

Bringing the camera closer to her face, she continues, “Guess what? I have f—ing lice.” 

“I can’t even deal. This is insane you guys, this is insane. We have a five-hour flight. I’m wearing a bag that these came in on my head,” she adds, showing the headphones that the airline, which she didn't name, provided. 

Mollen, who is married to Orange is the New Black and American Pie actor Jason Biggs, notes that she’s “never had lice in my life” and explains that because she’s been itchy for a while now, the lice have probably been “living on me for two weeks.” 

Mollen received a number of comments criticizing her actions documented in the clip. 

“You shouldn’t be on a plane and that bag should be covering ALL your hair!!!” one person wrote, referring to the plastic bag. Another added, “You better inform the flight attendants. I'd be freaking out on you if I was a passenger near you…”

One comment read, “That’s disgusting. You’re going to spread that all over the plane. You should be ashamed of yourself and you're doing a video laughing about it.”

In a follow-up video shared the next day from her home, she details how her whole house is “infested with lice” as she’s seated with a towel wrapped around her shoulders. 

“We’re peeling out the lice. Last night we put the shampoo on and killed everybody,” she says, referring to the tiny bugs. “Now there are dead bodies and they’re being pulled from my head.”

The mom of two revealed her husband only had “like two eggs” in his hair while their sons Lazlo, 5, and Sid, 8, had full “infestations.”  

She continues, “I know, the airplane seat, that’s a bummer for whoever sits there next. I want to be clear, I didn’t know that I had lice until I was on the airplane. I thought that I was going through perimenopause and for about three weeks I was just itching my scalp.”

“Let’s just blame my husband for not looking closely enough at my head,” she adds, noting that she asked Biggs to check if she might have lice and he said she didn’t.

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Head lice impacts about six million to 12 million people each year, with the most common symptom being an itchy scalp, according to Cleveland Clinic.

The spread of head lice can only be caused by “direct contact” between people or by sharing personal objects such as a comb, brush or hat, per the clinic. The insects only have the ability to crawl and do not fly or jump between individuals. 

In order to prevent the spread of head lice, the clinic advises against sharing personal items that touch your hair or head. You should also get your scalp examined as soon as possible if you have symptoms or think you’ve been exposed.