Los Angeles, Feb 8 (TIWN / IANS) Rapper Missy Elliott is facing a lawsuit from an alopecia sufferer saying that she used her image in single artwork without permission.

In an image used to promote her 2016 track "Pep Rally", the hip-hop star sports a top featuring what looks like an old modelling head-shot of Jodi Pliszka, an author and activist who is totally bald due to her condition, in black and white with a green sash, reports aceshowbiz.com.

Documents obtained by tmz.com show Pliszka suing Elliott and her The Goldmind Inc. record label.

Elliott has never publicly acknowledged that it is the alopecia activist featured on the shirt. In 2016, Pliszka's daughter Jess wrote a blog stating she was "ecstatic" her mum was pictured in the single cover art.

"It's an honour for my mom (to) have this extra exposure, especially by a superstar like Missy Elliott, to help promote her message of accepting differences to reduce prejudices," her post on the Odyssey website read. 

She added: "Thank you to my mom, Jodi Pliszka, and Missy Elliott, for being such strong, brave, positive role models to all."

Pliszka appeared on US reality TV series "American Inventor" in 2006, reaching the series finals with her invention, a cooling wig or hat liner. She released a memoir, titled "Bald is Beautiful: My Journey to Becoming", the following year.