# Was Jaimie Lee Curtis born a hermaphrodite? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 13, 2003, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jaimie-lee-curtis-born-a-hermaphrodite/148403 "2003-01-13T23:26:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![D18](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jaimie-lee-curtis-born-a-hermaphrodite/148403/81 "2015-09-22T23:35:58Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Please note this thread is 12 years old. Yes, and we’re still waiting for **QtM** to tell us about those 100s of masculinized women. Say, was he a prison doctor back then? ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jaimie-lee-curtis-born-a-hermaphrodite/148403/82 "2015-09-23T00:47:23Z")
I know it’s an old thread, but I was told that she is an XY female by a college biology professor about 15 years ago. He said that this occurs in about 1 in 40,000 births. A few years ago I told somebody at work about it and he didn’t believe me, so I went Googling to see who was right. Turned out that it isn’t true, but that it was such a widely disseminated story that it had reached the point where it was accepted uncritically even in academic circles. The source I read (I’m pretty sure it was Snopes) specifically mentioned college professors as being one of the primary sources of the perpetuation of this erroneous fact. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jaimie-lee-curtis-born-a-hermaphrodite/148403/83 "2015-09-23T01:17:13Z")
College professors giving erroneous facts?! Now I’ve heard everything. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jaimie-lee-curtis-born-a-hermaphrodite/148403/84 "2015-09-23T01:44:03Z")
> [@D18](#): > > Yes, and we’re still waiting for **QtM** to tell us about those 100s of masculinized women. Say, was he a prison doctor back then? I love how Broomstick’s request for stories was what “killed” the thread the 1st time around. Details, QtM! Feed the curiosity of the unwashed masses (us!) and tell us a story! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jaimie-lee-curtis-born-a-hermaphrodite/148403/85 "2015-09-23T04:16:49Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Please note this thread is 12 years old. And Mrs. Guest is _still_ hot. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jaimie-lee-curtis-born-a-hermaphrodite/148403/86 "2015-09-23T08:40:35Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > And Mrs. Guest is _still_ hot. ITYM _Lady_ Haden-Guest. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jaimie-lee-curtis-born-a-hermaphrodite/148403/87 "2015-09-23T13:09:46Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > A friend of mine told me she went to high school with Jamie Lee Curtis. And from brief gym class locker room glances, she said Curtis certainly appeared to be a female. . . Ahh. The friend of a friend in the locker room evidence. Convincing as ever. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jaimie-lee-curtis-born-a-hermaphrodite/148403/88 "2015-09-23T15:07:50Z")
It’s also worth noting that, regardless of whether it’s true or not, the rumor gets people talking about Ms. Curtis. It’s a common aphorism in show business that there’s no such thing as bad publicity, so she’s doubtless benefited from the rumor, and would have no incentive to put an end to it one way or the other. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jaimie-lee-curtis-born-a-hermaphrodite/148403/89 "2015-09-23T20:37:20Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > Ahh. The friend of a friend in the locker room evidence. Convincing as ever. I’ll allow it. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jaimie-lee-curtis-born-a-hermaphrodite/148403/90 "2015-09-24T02:20:27Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > It’s a common aphorism in show business that there’s no such thing as bad publicity … Tell that to Fatty Arbuckle. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jaimie-lee-curtis-born-a-hermaphrodite/148403/91 "2015-09-24T02:35:00Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Tell that to Fatty Arbuckle. Or Paul Reubens, Milli Vanilli, O.J. Simpson, Mel Gibson… ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jaimie-lee-curtis-born-a-hermaphrodite/148403/92 "2015-09-24T02:49:09Z")
By now the existence of this thread is just bloody rude. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jaimie-lee-curtis-born-a-hermaphrodite/148403/93 "2015-09-24T03:07:10Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > ITYM _Lady_ Haden-Guest. You’re right. I forgot about the title. ---
**Author:** ![Sarabellum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarabellum/32/3492_2.png) [@Sarabellum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarabellum)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2015, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jaimie-lee-curtis-born-a-hermaphrodite/148403/94 "2015-09-26T23:06:05Z")
I don’t buy it, personally. I’ve heard the rumors, who hasn’t?, but there is really nothing at all to back it up. Nothing. LOTS of actresses adopt instead of bearing their own children. Lots. I’m going to speculate that Jamie Lee Curtis’ motivation to adopt was personal, seeing as how she wrote a much-celebrated children’s book on the topic. I could also speculate that someone who looked as good as she did, for so many years, probably put a LOT of effort into it. Maybe she didn’t want to roll the dice on ruining body beautiful by having kids herself. Maybe she had fertility issues. Surrogacy wasn’t as much of a thing back then, so maybe adoption seemed like a good solution. ---
**Author:** ![gracefulfatsheba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a3d4f5/32.png) [@gracefulfatsheba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracefulfatsheba)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jaimie-lee-curtis-born-a-hermaphrodite/148403/95 "2015-09-27T13:30:28Z")
The same story was spread about the R&B singer Ciara (who recently gave birth to a baby boy). Jamie Lee Curtis also has two biological children. There’s a common theme here: there is a very slight masculinity to both Jamie Lee Curtis & Ciara’s features and styling which is likely the original cause of the rumor. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jaimie-lee-curtis-born-a-hermaphrodite/148403/96 "2015-09-27T18:04:21Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > Even if **she** does have AIS, a few things about that condition should be pointed out: > > 1 - In the case of complete AIS, it often is not detected until puberty - the individual is, to all external appearances, female. > > 2 - By the time it is detected at puberty (lack of onset of menstruation), the individual has grown up thinking of themselves as female, whatever their chromosomes might say, and will probably continue to do so. Particularly since their external appearance will be that of a normally developed woman. Best that they think of themselves as a woman who happens to be infertile, similar to women who are infertile for any number of other reasons. > > A program on NPR about this condition actually mentioned that many women who have it tend to be tall and quite striking in appearance, and have flawless skin, oddly enough (the doctor being interviewed commented that they often looked like fashion models). That, and the fact that JLC has adopted might be considered circumstantial evidence, but we can’t no for sure, and, at the end of the day, it’s really none of our business. > > Background on AIS: > > [http://www.geneclinics.org/profiles/androgen/](http://www.geneclinics.org/profiles/androgen/) AIS is Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome. It comes in several flavors (degrees). Complete AIS patients are very female, based on external examination. With no androgen receptors, they lack masculine traits. It may be sample bias, but the few photos I have seen in medical textbooks are all “stone-cold foxes”. There is no “correction” for this (although there would be medical tests involved to come to the correct diagnosis, and many are recommended to have the undescended testes removed, to reduce risk of cancer). I’ve heard the rumor in a hospital, too. A reliable source at a major children’s hospital in Indiana I did time in told me that a guy he knew said she was “corrected” there. Sounds like a slam-dunk to me. :dubious: Glancing over a few of the other websites mentioned upthread, it seems that the Curtisses traveled all over the country seeking a remedy (Los Angeles, Baltimore, who knows where else). I am sure they chose to have the surgery in Indiana on the merits of the program, and not to for obscurity. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jaimie-lee-curtis-born-a-hermaphrodite/148403/97 "2015-09-27T18:22:25Z")
Zombied! ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jaimie-lee-curtis-born-a-hermaphrodite/148403/98 "2015-09-28T00:44:41Z")
> [@gracefulfatsheba](#): > > Jamie Lee Curtis also has two biological children. No one ever say Jamie with a baby belly !, and she wasn’t in hiding for six months. Well its well known that the two children are not robots or anything but natural born children, so in a way they are biological… But they are adopted to Jamie and Mr Guest… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jaimie-lee-curtis-born-a-hermaphrodite/148403.md?page=4)