A few years ago everyone was singing his songs. Now he’s unrecognizable.

It seems that he decided to embrace a new look the moment he signed off from the Late Show. Just four months after his final episode, the beard was thicker than ever. At the time, he explained to Whitefish Review that he was simply ”sick and tired of shaving.”

His wife hates it

Today, the post-retirement beard has become something of an enigma itself. Some joke that he looked like Santa Claus or a retired sea captain, while others saw it as an emblem of freedom.

But it wasn’t just about letting go of the razor; it was a reflection of Letterman’s choice to let go of all the formalities and expectations that had defined his appearance for so many years.

”I had to shave every day — every day — for 33 years,” he said. ”And even before that when I was working on local TV. And I just thought, the first thing I will do when I am not on TV is stop shaving.”

However, not everyone appreciates his new look.

”Everybody hates it,” Letterman explained. ”My wife hates it. My son hates it. But it’s interesting. I’ve kind of developed a real creepy look with it that I’m sort of enjoying.”

David Letterman today

David even joked that the more people urged him to shave, the less likely he was to do it.

The New York Post even consulted external experts to analyze David Letterman’s new look more deeply. The paper spoke with Douglas LaBier, director of the Center for Progressive Development, who shared his perspective on why he believes Letterman has made such a drastic change in appearance.

According to LaBier, being so visible, recognizable, and often obsessed over can force public figures like Letterman to fit into a very stuffy mold.