Why Clare Bowen From 'Nashville' Chopped Off Her Hair

— -- Clare Bowen just debuted a bold new look for a good cause.

The "Nashville" star cut off her long blonde locks to encourage others to look beyond the physical when they meet new people.

"I was really inspired when I heard a story about a little girl who said she couldn't be a princess because she didn't have long hair, and I wanted her, and others like her, to know that's not what makes a princess, or a warrior, or a superhero. It's not what makes you beautiful either. It's your insides that count…even if you happen to be missing half of them," she wrote on Facebook. "Every scar tells a story, every baldhead, every dark circle, every prosthetic limb, and every reflection in a mirror that you might not recognize anymore. Look deeper than skin, hair, nails, and lips. You are who you are in your bones. That is where you have the potential to shine the brightest from. It is where your true beautiful self lives."

Bowen, 31, explained that as a child, she was diagnosed with end stage nephroblastoma, a cancer of the kidney that accounts for 95 percent of kidney and renal cancers in children under the age of 14, according to the Children's Cancer Research Fund. During her time in the hospital, she was surrounded by children who, like her, were sick and undergoing chemotherapy.

"No one's appearance came into question. No one got laughed at or teased. We were all we knew," she explained. "And then I got really lucky. I survived, my hair grew back and I got strong again. I look relatively normal on the outside, but on the inside, I am still the same stitched back together little creature, in a world where people are judged so harshly for the way they look. It has always been completely incomprehensible to me. How can people think there's time for that?"

Bowen thanked ABC, the network behind her show, and the creator of "Nashville" for giving her permission to change the way her character Scarlett looks. She also expressed her gratitude to friends and family members who encouraged her to change her appearance.

"If it makes even one person think twice about judging another, then in some small way, the world is better," she wrote.