# Jamie Lee Curtis - the truth **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 20, 1999, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jamie-lee-curtis-the-truth/5506 "1999-12-20T19:09:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SoMoMom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@SoMoMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoMoMom)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 1999, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jamie-lee-curtis-the-truth/5506/21 "1999-12-21T16:45:00Z")
It’s really none of anyone’s business why she and her husband adopted their children. She’s an OK actress and she writes good children’s books. She loves her children and contributes to society. Get a life! ---
**Author:** ![StrTrkr777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@StrTrkr777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StrTrkr777)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 1999, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jamie-lee-curtis-the-truth/5506/22 "1999-12-21T16:48:00Z")
Which part of her face is manly? I have to agree with those who find her quite attractive. I loved her strip scene in True Lies. She is hot. Jeffery ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 1999, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jamie-lee-curtis-the-truth/5506/23 "1999-12-21T16:53:00Z")
The only “manly” thing about her face is the characteristic she got from her father. Check out the site I listed above for some great pics of her. * * * I looked in the mirror today/My eyes just didn’t seem so bright I’ve lost a few more hairs/I think I’m going bald - Rush ---
**Author:** ![StrTrkr777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@StrTrkr777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StrTrkr777)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 1999, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jamie-lee-curtis-the-truth/5506/24 "1999-12-21T16:58:00Z")
I did check out the site and I am still sweating from it. I need to go see my wife now. Bye. Jeffery ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jamie-lee-curtis-the-truth/5506/25 "1999-12-22T00:47:00Z")
Getting off the subject of Ms Curtis’s ovaries, I once read that her husband Christopher Guest is a titled member of British nobility and Jamie Lee Curtis is therefore Lady Something-or-Other by marriage. Does anyone know what her title is? ---
**Author:** ![Poto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Poto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poto)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jamie-lee-curtis-the-truth/5506/26 "1999-12-22T01:07:00Z")
Revtim, what’s your problem? Been scratching that ass crack again? ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jamie-lee-curtis-the-truth/5506/27 "1999-12-22T01:45:00Z")
I always hate celebrities who won’t just answer yes or no. She could clear the whole thing up by saying no I’m not. It’s like Rosie O’Donnell and the gay thing. By saying she won’t comment she pretty much admits it. Yeah I know it is no ones business, but famous people don’t have the same expectation of privacy as those who aren’t. Besides if someone asked me if I was a hermaphrodite I’d just say no. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jamie-lee-curtis-the-truth/5506/28 "1999-12-22T02:47:00Z")
Hey, I just don’t like her face. It doesn’t look feminine to me. Her body, though, is indeed another story. Her dance in ‘True Lies’ raised more wood than the forklift at ‘84 Lumber’. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jamie-lee-curtis-the-truth/5506/29 "1999-12-22T03:17:00Z")
I think JLC has a rather long face, not a “cute” round heart-shaped face. That doesn’t make her face “manly”, however. I don’t think she has the most beautiful face ever, but she has a lovely figure (you’d have to be blind not to notice that) and an overall attractive look. ---
**Author:** ![NightGirl44](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e68b1a/32.png) [@NightGirl44](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NightGirl44)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jamie-lee-curtis-the-truth/5506/30 "1999-12-22T03:20:00Z")
I was watching one of those biography programs on the A&E channel some years ago, when they put on something concerning Jamie Lee Curtis. I had never made the connection of her being Tony Curtis’ daughter – not really paying attention to show stuff that much, and they discussed it on the program. They also pointed out that at birth, she had both sexual organs. I don’t know the term for this, but her parents made the decision to have the male ones removed. So she became fully female. Over the years, there have been several biographies of her but only that one mentioned the double sex at birth. ---
**Author:** ![Whammo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Whammo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whammo)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jamie-lee-curtis-the-truth/5506/31 "1999-12-22T04:55:00Z")
according to the site… she has two kids… are they adopted? it didnt say. ---
**Author:** ![JoeyBlades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a87d85/32.png) [@JoeyBlades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeyBlades)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jamie-lee-curtis-the-truth/5506/32 "1999-12-22T14:38:00Z")
Markxxx writes: > [@](#): > > I always hate celebrities who won’t just answer yes or no. She could clear the whole thing up by saying no I’m not. How naive. The media never gives up. Ms. Curtis cannot win any way she goes. If she answers “Yes, I have male genetics”, then the media will take her apart (almost literally). If she answers “No, I’m all woman”, then the press will insist on pressing about why they chose to adopt. Was it another medical problem? Is Mr. Guest infertile? Was it a personal choice? How did the rumors get started? Can you provide medical proof that you’re a woman? Can we interview Mr. Guest on this issue? What do your kids think about being adopted? Ad nauseum. If she doesn’t answer at all, she’s guilty of the most heinous of crimes in show biz… withholding juicy facts!!! These aspects of her personal life are just that - PERSONAL. She should not have to parade them around for the purient interests of the National Inquirer set. I hate people who think they have some sort of God-given right to know all of the intimate details of a person, just because that person is famous… Get a life. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jamie-lee-curtis-the-truth/5506/33 "1999-12-22T15:52:00Z")
## Various responses: [ul][li]I saw the A&E Biography, and I don’t recall it mentioning her being born a hermaphrodite. That sounds more like a tabloid bio, not A&E’s.[/li][li]Yes, her two kids are adopted.[/li][li]She became Baroness, Lady Haden-Guest, when her husband inherited the Barony in 1996.[/ul][/li] I looked in the mirror today/My eyes just didn’t seem so bright I’ve lost a few more hairs/I think I’m going bald - Rush ---
**Author:** ![J\_String](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@J\_String](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_String)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 1999, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jamie-lee-curtis-the-truth/5506/34 "1999-12-23T06:25:00Z")
So, how do rumors like this get started? I’d say equal parts stupidity and wild speculation. Also a sizeable dose of the “things-aren’t-as-they-seem” philosophy. I’ll call it pseudo-skepticism because its practicioners believe asking the question is the end of the process (i.e., merely speculating as to Ms. Curtis’s sex serves as an answer in and of itself). ## As for people like Markxxx, who believe that every unreasonable question should be answered, don’t you have a life??? It’s a long way to heaven, but only three short steps to hell. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 1999, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jamie-lee-curtis-the-truth/5506/35 "1999-12-23T05:26:00Z")
A few clarifications: The condition JLC is _alleged_ to have is testicular feminization (T-fem for short). Affected individuals are conceived as XY genetic males. Early in embryogenesis, they have testes which make testosterone. Then something goes wrong. Either they lack the receptor for dihydrotestosterone (DHT), OR the receptor is present, but defective. DHT interaction with it’s receptor is necessary for normal male development. Without it, the perineum never closes, the penis never develops beyond the size of the clitorus, and a vagina forms. In other words, phenotypically, the infant appears as a completely normal female. This is NOT the same as a hermaphrodite, which is an individual with both male and female reproductive organs. This condition (hermaphoditism) is exceeding rare. More common are variants of T-fem in which the enzyme is not totally lacking, so that the external genitalia comes out somewhere in between male & female in appearance. Alternatively, if an XX female fetus IS exposed to DHT during the pregnancy, she could also have genitalia which appears to be male, or partially male. This situation is called ambiguous genitalia, and health care teams work very closely with parents to help them decide whether to anme and raise the child as a boy or girl. Usually, the overriding factor is future capacity for sex, and reproductive ability. A male infant with T-fem can develop as a picture-perfect female, but would never menstruate or conceive. OTOH, a fully functional penis is impossible to “create”, and such a person would never have sperm, or be fertile as a man, either. Almost always, they are raised as women. At puberty, higher levels of pituitary hormones stimulate increased testosterone levels. However, without the effects of DHT, no male development occurs, and enough testosterone is converted to estrogen to stimulate breast development. But, with no ovaries, and no uterus, no menstruation occurs. In fact, T fem is often never even suspected until a “girl” goes too long with having her first period. ## Here’s a link if you want to know more: [http://www3.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Omim/dispmim?300068](http://www3.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Omim/dispmim?300068) Sue from El Paso Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jamie-lee-curtis-the-truth/5506.md?page=1)