Fakers: How many celebrity gingers are secretly blond (or brunette) bombshells?

The New York Times recently declared red hair to be in – partly because so many popular celebrities are rockin’ the ginger look these days.

It’s true – from Mad Men’s smoldering sexpot Christina Hendricks, to Ron Weasley and his ginger brethren in the latest Harry Potter, red hair has never been hipper and more in the public eye.

Which is why it pains me to do this – out the fakers.

Because it has recently come to Militant Ginger’s attention that some of this generation's most iconic redheads are, in fact, frauds. They’re about as ginger as Geri Halliwell (the former Ginger Spice – who was straight out of a bottle.)

The Bernie Madoff of this scarlet-haired scandal? None other than Mad Men star Christina Hendricks herself. The curvaceous star recently admitted that she’s a natural blond, and has been dying her hair that signature scarlet since she was just 10-years old!

“There was something that spoke to me about that color,” she confessed to LA Times,” So my Mum said, “Let’s just dye it.” My hair was very blond at the time, but it went to carrot red – and I was over the moon! I went to school the next day and just felt like myself.”

Although obviously gutted, I’ll acquit Hendricks because she’s truly taken being redheaded to heart, and stayed loyal to the hair color for almost twenty years.

Next on my hit list are James and Oliver Phelps, who play ginger mischief-makers Fred and George Weasley in the Harry Potter saga. The whole Weasley clan are celebrated gingers; but it turns out that the twins who play Fred and George are actually fakers.

Fred and George Weasley - not really ginger

“The twins are both natural brunettes,” Kris Bigalk revealed on BellaOnline, “and dye their hair a "ginger" color for the Harry Potter films. Both have expressed a preference for their natural hair color, but must wait for studio clearance to dye it back to its original shade.”

C’mon! Are you telling me there weren’t real ginger twins available to play the Weasley brothers? For shame, Warner Brothers!

The gorgeous Amy Adams has always been one of my favorite redheads – she looked stunning in Talledega Nights and was cute and bubbly in Enchanted.

However, she’s not a natural redhead either! Amy is really a natural blond! But like Christina Hendricks, I’m almost willing to let her go on this one.

In an interview with People, she admitted it:

“I was a terrible blonde. When I dyed my hair true red for the first time, I felt as if it was what nature intended. I’ve always been a bit of a spitfire, so I absolutely live up to the stereotype about redheaded women.”

If she hadn't have come clean, I'd have never known. She's an utterly convincing (and utterly gorgeous) ginger.

The final fraud isn’t an A-lister any more, but back in the mid-nineties, she was the iconic redhead of her generation. When X-Files was rocking our TV screens for the first time, the gorgeous Gillian Anderson was the highest profile redhead on both sides of the Atlantic.

Gillian Anderson - out of this world as the redhead FBI agent Dana Scully

But Dan Scully, it turns out, had a secret almost as dark as the alien/hybrid/conspiracy thing at the heart of the unintelligible plot of the X-Files saga.

[That’s a bit hyperbolic, wouldn’t you admit? Editorial Bear]

She’d never been ginger to begin with – it was all out of a bottle! Several bottles, as it happens. If you want to see a season-by-season time line of her hair evolution (I kid you not) visit this article on Hair Boutique.

But while we’re out exposing fake redheads, it would be remiss not to tackle an equally scandalous situation: Britain’s closeted gingers. Yes, there are stars out there who are natural redheads, but will do anything to keep that truth hidden.

Can you blame them? I’m a prime example that it ain’t easy growing up in Britain with red hair. But ultimately, I say redhead celebrities have a duty to be loud and proud about their ‘ginger roots’ and stop pretending to be something they’re not.

A case in point? Comedy sensation Simon Pegg – the genius behind Shaun of the Dead and Spaced. Despite his clearly ginger beard and scruff, the cheeky rogue recently told More! magazine: “I'm not actually a redhead! When we did Shaun of the Dead I dyed my hair before filming and it kind of went red.”

Bold-faced lies! Countless red-carpet shots and publicity stills how Pegg rockin’ the ginger look, (or, at least, unsuccessfully covering it up with trop de peroxide.) Why can’t he just admit what he is and give countless kids growing in ginger-hating Britain an icon they can look up to?

I hate to get all Perez Hilton and ‘out’ unwilling redheads, but this is a duty that needs to be done. No more lies, Mr Pegg! Militant Ginger loves your work, but I wag a stern finger at your continued ginger denial. Own it, fellow redhead!

After all, if Christina Hendricks, the Phelps Twins and Amy Adams have shown us anything, it’s that being ginger is hip, hot and here to stay. They weren't ginger, and they wanted to be. What's your issue?

When I was growing up, I got constant abuse for having red hair. Now it looks like everybody in the world wants to join the clan instead - and if the likes of Hendricks and Adams are amongst them, I’m more than happy to extend an open invitation!