Jenny Mollen said she first learned she had head lice during a five-hour flight, after a friend examined her hair—not before she boarded. After coverage prompted criticism, she pushed back on the suggestion that she knowingly took the flight with lice and objected to the attention the story received.
What happened on the flight
Mollen posted a video to Instagram on Oct. 29, 2024, describing how a friend examined her hair during the flight and found lice, according to E! News. Mollen said she had been itching for about two weeks and had initially attributed it to perimenopause symptoms.
In the video, she wore a plastic bag over part of her hair. She said it came from the in-flight headphones and that she used it in an effort to protect other passengers. She later said that her home and children also had lice, and joked that her husband, Jason Biggs, had “like, two eggs.” These details are Mollen’s statements as reported by E! News, not independently verified medical findings. The outlets did not identify the airline or route.
Did Jenny Mollen know she had lice before the flight?
Mollen said she did not know before boarding. On Nov. 14, after coverage suggested she had knowingly taken the flight with lice, she responded in an Instagram Story, as quoted by E! News: “Who would willingly sit w lice on their head for a five hour flight if they knew they had lice before boarding!??!” She said she learned about the lice when her friend examined her hair later that night.
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What she said about the articles
Mollen also objected to the volume and prominence of the coverage. The Los Angeles Times reported that, in an Instagram post, she wrote: “The world is on fire, but me finding out I had lice while stuck on an airplane (two weeks ago) is A TOP STORY.”
The phrase “Jason Biggs’ actress wife” reflected how some outlets described Mollen. PerthNow reported that she added the wording to her Instagram bio as a pointed response to those descriptions. It was a line she used to comment on the coverage, not an uncontested description of her identity.
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What head lice mean for other passengers
The CDC says head lice spread mainly through direct hair-to-hair contact. Less commonly, they can spread through recently shared items such as clothing, combs, brushes, towels, bedding or stuffed animals. Lice are not related to cleanliness and do not transmit disease; the CDC does not consider them a health hazard. Its June 4, 2024 guidance estimates 6–12 million infestations each year among U.S. children ages 3–11; that figure is not an estimate for all people or all ages. See the CDC’s About Head Lice guidance.
A fine-toothed louse comb may help detect lice. The CDC says over-the-counter and prescription medications are available to treat infestations. The coverage does not establish what, if anything, Mollen used, so no treatment product can be attributed to her.
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