I’ve been hearing this rather persistant rumor about Jamie Lee Curtis. Does anyone know whether this lady is a hermaphrodite or not? Come to think of it her features are a bit masculine. What’s the deal?
I hope not! She’s one of the sexiest women alive IMHO.
According to Snopes, it’s still just a rumor, and has not been proven in any way. The only real way to determine the validity of this rumor would be for Jamie Lee herself to deny or confirm it herself (or her doctors, but that’s not likely, either).
BTW, one thing the Snopes piece mentions is that the rumor often surfaces from professors who repeat it as fact; when I was in school, my biology professor said Kim Novak was born with both sets of sex organs. Could just be a newer version of the Novak rumor, or vice versa.
This is discussed on pages 168-172 of Cecil’s book The Straight Dope Tells All. Cecil denies that there is any evidence that this rumor is true.
Why does this rumor persist? What’s the basis for it?
What’s the movie that she was in where she wears a leotard? Is her crotch never evident?
This is the same thing as the “6 toed MARILYN MONROE” thing. Reams of pictures of her with both feet showing, only 5 toes each, mean nothing to people who want to believe “rumors”.
KIM NOVAK? She was 2 years ahead of me in school and I’ve NEVER heard this one. The only thing that was ever said about her, after she hit the screen, was that everybody knew “somebody” that knew “a guy” that had made her.
I hope you didn’t think I meant it as a fact! I only mean the professor presented it as such, not that it was actually true.
I don’t know how it gained birth, but it persists to a large degree because the woman is a very attractive gal whose professional life continues to exist based on how much of the public eye she can command.
She’s quite attractive and she’s a decent actress. Not one of the greats, but definitely competent. And her career depends on remaining as currency. If I were her I’d never address the subject, as she’s apparently chosen.
What would be the big whoopee if this grey rumor were ever determined as fact? Whether ya like 'em that way or not, you still don’t get to meet her. And, should some genetic quirk ever be established (which I doubt), the fact of the matter is that Ms. Curtis has established herself as a dynamic woman actress. If she had to deal with some hereditary abnormality, she’s done it well.
I really hate the persistence of this kind of bullshit.
At least she seems to have a sense of humor about it.
Anyone remember the awards show when she and John Lovitz were presenting an award, and out of the blue, he reaches over and grabs one of her boobs? She deadpans, “What are you doing?” He replies, “Just checking.”
Cut to a shot of Tony Curtis in the crowd. He jumps to his feet and looks shocked.
Later, she returned the favor by grabbing his crotch (hidden by the podium.)
I had always heard not that she was a hermaphrodite, but that she was an androgen-insensitive XY. I had heard the same thing about Nicole Kidman, although the news of her recent miscarriage seems to cast doubt on that one.
We all start our developmental path as females. After a while, the males start pumping out extra testosterone thanks to a gene on the Y chromosome, and this makes them take a left turn into manhood. Those without a Y chromosome (that is, women) keep on truckin’ down the female development highway.
Some people who are XY have some problem making the testosterone, and thus stay on the female track despite being genetically male. Others make the testosterone just fine, but the receptor that the testosterone acts on is defective. This is androgen insensitivity.
They say that women who are androgen-insensitive XY can often be particularly “feminine” appearing, since most women have some testosterone effect and these women have none at all.
This all came from the residents on my Urology rotation, and should be taken with the appropriate grain of salt.
Dr. J
Why don’t we get the old rumor going again about spider eggs in McDonalds hamburgers? Or that Procter and Gambles “Moon and Stars” is a Satanic sign? Or that if you dig a hole deep enough that you’ll come out in China? What comes around, goes around, around, around, around…
Apparently part of the rumor is that it was surgically “corrected” in a hush hush manner (probably also the case in the MM rumor), so such evidence doesn’t really amount to much.
I guess the ambiguous gender of her name and the lack of biological children led to creative speculation; the “no comment” apparently was taken as tacit confirmation (not that denying it would have quashed the rumor either).
It seems to me that, the odds are, it’s bunk. There are too many other explanations that are more likely but less “exciting”. She is not the first woman named Jamie, nor the first genetic female to adopt children. I am a genetic female with no fertility problems (that I know of anyway), but I plan to adopt some children myself once I have an opportunity. In fact, I strongly oppose the implication that nobody would want to adopt a kid unless they couldn’t have biological kids.
I think it’s understandable that people would be curious about this kind of topic and want to talk about such a rumor, but hopefully not in a malicious manner. IMO it SHOULDN’T be a slur to say this about someone, just as it SHOULDN’T be insulting to say someone is gay (although unfortunately insult is sometimes intended by spreading gay rumors). I don’t consider it horrible or frightening that someone might have an extra digit or “ambiguous” genitalia. It could happen to anyone. I bet there are a few people in Hollywood, just as in the general population, who have these kind of conditions. It doesn’t make them disgusting or sinister; just different.
And the punch line, when she grabs his crotch: “You missed.” 
The thread http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=9564 has the same discussion.
Both JL Curtis and K Novak have a rare chromosomal abnormality known as Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS). It is also known as Testicular Feminization (TF).
Genetically, those with AIS have the male XY chromosomes - normally XY directs the generic organs called ovo-testes to become testes, which produce testosterone. That hormone then causes the embryo’s body - and brain - to develop as “male.”
In AIS, there is a total insensitivity to male hormones, also known as androgens; the most prevalent of these is testosterone. Thus, while the AIS fetus has testes (which produce testosterone) the hormone has no masculinizing effect on the developing child.
Without testosterone, or in the case of AIS, without the effects of testosterone, the fetus will differentiate to become female. Thus, the child is born with the female external genitalia and it’s not until adolescence when the teen fails to menstruate that investigations reveal the young woman to have this disorder.
Thus, these people are genetically male, having the XY genotype, however, in every other aspect, they are women. Apologies for the extremely dry and technical explanation!
This condition is quite distinct from hermaphroditism, in which a child is born with both male and female genitalia. In AIS or TF, the child will have testes, however, there is no scrotum for them to descend into, and they are typically removed to prevent cancer, which is a risk factor for undescended testicles.
It goes without saying, that a woman with this condition cannot bear children, both because she lacks ovaries to produce eggs, and also lacks a uterus. Thus, any children these women have will be adopted. Women with AIS do have a vagina and their external genitalia does appear female, however beyond the vagina, there is no uterus, no fallopian tubes or ovaries.
People with AIS are typically on lifelong hormone replacement therapy to provide the hormones they would have had from ovaries, which are not present. I have heard a rumor that Julia Roberts also suffers from this disorder, though I don’t know whether there’s any truth to that.
Although this is a very uncommon condition, it is nonetheless a common and favorite question on med school exams!
Any evidence to support either of these claims?
What sort of evidence would you expect to get regarding another person’s medical condition? I guess what you’re asking is whether I can prove this claim, and no, of course I cannot. However, it isn’t shared in medical circles in a titillating fashion, and this was long before it was fashionable to discuss gender issues at all. In fact, the expression gender issue was quite meaningless until recently.
One could as easily ask, why would someone make this up? It is a real disorder, thus some people must have it and certainly some of those people are likely to be well-known, even if it isn’t well-known that they have the syndrome.
One thing that does point towards it is the woman having adopted children, although of course many people experience infertility for a variety of reasons. Note thay adopting children was not fashionable back in my day; people adopted children because they genuinely could not have children, typically due to infertility or age.
Whether you believe this claim or not is of no consequence to me. I offer it up because this is the actual syndrome that these two particular women are rumored to have. If you do not believe it, that’s fine. In the very least, it may educate some people interested in learning about rare disorders, and ways in which gender can truly be complex.
Not ‘are said to be’, ‘I’ve heard’ or ‘the doctor told me that he heard from this other doctor that they had a mate who reckoned …’; no qualifiers, just ‘have’.
I cannot reconcile these two statements. The medical discussion has been very enlightening for a condition that I was ignorant about, but the breezy way people (other posters, not just @Lion4aDay) try to anchor celebrity gossip / urban myth into the narrative as confirmed fact is pretty creepy.
Something more than “Because I said so” to start.
You revived a 22 year old thread to say something that is of no consequence to yourself??
First you claim it is a fact, and now you say it is a rumor.
Which is it?