Jamie Lee Curtis has decided not to have any more plastic surgery. According to Plasmetic.com she has undergone a lower eyelid surgery and liposuction which led to complications, and has now decided that she will not have anymore. If only she would make the same decision about doing movies with Lindsay Lohan.
In the medical community she is known for a different, not-so-plastic-surgery-related medical condition. Does anyone know what it is?
Story and photo credit: Plasmetic.com
So it's possibly true that she may have been born a hermaphrodite?
ReplyDeleteIs there any proof to that rumor? I've heard it for years but no one has ever offered up medical records, parent statements, her statments etc. I think she has an interesting beauty.
ReplyDeleteSupposable she's a hermie. I doubt that though.
ReplyDeleteSo were we right about that rumor?
ReplyDeleteShe was always more about the body than the face as far as I can see, and has never been such a great feminine beauty, so as long as she goes to the gym to keep the body up, whatever bits she's got concealed in her panties won't bother me. But that rumor *is* very tantalizing.
ReplyDeleteIs it androgen insensitivity syndrome?
ReplyDeleteThanks for all your answers. Now, I am not an expert in genetics, but it is urban legend that Ms. Curtis is a pseudohermaphrodite. That would mean that she has XY chromosomes but developed female external genitalia. I believe that she does not have a real uterus though, as her vagina ends in a "blind-ended sac." This is by no means a known fact, but what I remember from med school. Unfortunately, I have long ago tossed out my notes and textbook. If anyone has any other information feel free to post.
ReplyDeleteBossman,
ReplyDeleteI happened to be eating when I read the bit about the blind-ended sac. Thanks a lot.
Your receptionist
When I was an intern I heard from another resident (who had been on the gyne team looking after Ms Curtis) that she had testicular feminization syndrome
ReplyDeleteI learned in my reproductive genetics class in college that she has Klinefelter's syndrome-- an XXY. Technically she was born a male but ppl with this syndrome often have underdeveloped genitalia, making it easier to have them genetically reassigned to be a female...
ReplyDeleteYep, she'd XXY. Her urologist and my dad (also a urologist) are pals.
ReplyDeletei heard she has androgen insensitivity syndrome as well.. rather than klinefelter...
ReplyDeleteFrom what I have learned in my college biology class, she has testicular feminization and not kleinfelters. Since her testosterone receptors don't function properly and her estrogen receptors do, she is essentially female while having XY chromosomes.
ReplyDeleteI studied this in med school, so maybe i can help explain this a bit better... Its a pretty complicated condition, so I can see how it can be confusing to some.
ReplyDeleteShe can't have klienfelters (XXY) because people of this genetic disease are pretty much normal males with male external genetalia, testicular atrophy (shrunken testicles) and gynecomastia (boobs).
She most likely has Androgen insensitivity. In this disorder the person is genetically male like Dr. Youn said with a blind ending vagina (the outer vagina develops independently from the hormone problems here).
The problem here is a complete LACK of androgen receptor function, thus their bodies do not respond to the high levels of androgens. thus they do not have the internal male structures.
They do however have testes (internal) and their testosterone levels are normal male levels.
Since they have what appears to be a vagina (externally), these patients are physiologically and physically female and are brought up as girls. The diagnosis is usually made at puberty when they cannot menstruate due to having NO uterus, fallopian tubes, cervix or UPPer vagina!!! After it is diagnosed, they need estrogen replacement and should have the internal testes removed, because they are at an increased risk of developing Testicular cancer!
Pretty interesting stuff, huh? :)
The post above is what I learnt in med school too. One modification: most androgen insensitivity/testicular feminization sufferers don't need estrogen therapy since the enzyme that converts testosterone to estradiol (5 alpha reductase) is working normally.
ReplyDeleteAlthough they tend to have higher testosterone levels (the loss of the receptors also inhibits negative feedback) they convert most of it to estradiol, which is why they develop female sexual characteristics normally and on time. In fact, it is usually only at puberty that the syndrome is detected - due to the failure to menstruate. Since hair growth on the pubis, under the arms and on the face is testosterone-dependant, they do not have hair in these places.
My bro told me she had Androgen insensitivity. The Shah of Iran's wife had it as well.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, he said that those with Androgen insensitivity frequently appear ultra-feminine in appearance.
As a geneticist I hope I can explain in layman terms how she became a pseudohermaphrodite. This occurred bc she was born with one X and one Y chromosome (X is the female chromosome and Y is the male chromosome). Most women are born with two X chromosomes and most males are born with one X and one Y. One of the X chromosomes is randomly inactivated in each cell in females, this is called the Lyon Hypothesis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-inactivation). Therefore, to be a normal looking female you theoretically need only one active X chromosome. The Y chromosome is very small in comparison and only contains a few genes. Most of these genes on the Y chromosome serve to determine sex (one of these is the SRY gene) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex-determination_system. For humans an embryo possessing the lack of a physical and/or functioning Y chromosome will by default become female. In the case of Jamie Lee Curtis, she has both and X and a Y chromosome. Her Y chromosome does not possess a functioning SRY gene.
ReplyDeleteJamie Lee Curtis XXY : Urban Legend
ReplyDelete"Without a doubt, the main driving force behind this gossip is the fact that Jamie Lee Curtis's alleged intersexuality has long been spoken of as a given in medical school classrooms, even though her name has never appeared in a textbook or journal article in connection with intersex conditions. But a rumor is still a rumor, even from the lips of a board-certified physician. All the more so, in fact, given that any physician who actually treated Curtis couldn't have revealed such information without violating patient confidentiality laws.
The only document that has ever been offered as "proof" was a 1996 op-ed piece in the Baltimore Sun written by William O. Beeman, associate professor of anthropology at Brown University, entitled "What Are You: Male, Merm, Herm, Ferm or Female?" The relevant passage reads as follows:
As a result, there are perhaps millions of XX males and XY females living in the United States today. These are cultural males with male genitalia who are genetically female, and cultural females with female genitalia who are genetically male. The film star Jamie Lee Curtis is one well-known individual who is genetically male, but phenotypically female.
And there we have it in black and white, it would seem, except for two tiny caveats. First, according to Professor Beeman the pertinent sentence was deleted from the published article. Second, the reason it was deleted was that Beeman's attempts to track down the plastic surgeons to whom intermediate sources had attributed the statement were "totally unsuccessful." In other words, Professor Beeman had simply repeated an item of scurrilous gossip"
urbanlegends.about.com/od/jamieleecurtis
/a/jamieleecurtis.htm
AIS results in underdeveloped testicles where her ovaries should be, which secrete testosterone but she lacks receptors to it which results in a default female pathway, in which she has a normal vagina.
ReplyDeleteYou might recall a house episode about this condition.
this is not 'hermaphroditism', as she is sterile, and does not have ambiguous genitalia at all. Many people live normal lives with this condition, as long as what parts of society learn of it do not hold irrational prejudices against them.
Apart from phenotypes and genitalia, how do these patients feel? Do they feel more female if they happen to be raised so?
ReplyDeleteborn with a dick or not, you have to admit he/she was sexy during the strip scene in the movie True Lies!!!
ReplyDeleteI am genuinely surprised that Dr. Youn would post this rumor without documentation. I appreciate general plastic surgery snarkiness, but this condition seems a bit too personal to read about. She's one of my favorite celebrities-- this rumor probably started because she has always sported a short haircut. Simple as that.
ReplyDeleteJamie Lee Curtis is not a hermaphrodite. She has an extra Y chromosome which means androgen insensitivity. Totally different
ReplyDeleteNone of you have any idea about JLC's genetic and genital status. Christopher Guest would know more.
ReplyDeleteThese are just rumors. When I was in medical school, my OBGYN resident told me that he personally knew an ER MD who pulled a gerbil out of Richard Gere's ass. Problem is, that doctor was in NYC, and another resident "knew" a doctor who allegedly degerbiled Gere in LA.
Lesson: rumors about stars are bogus, even if our residents or attendings repeat them.
I also learned in Med school that she had androgen insensitivity syndrome. However, in a broad search I cannot find any facts to substantiate or even support this claim. For sure she clearly does not have Klinefelter's (XXY) as these are ALL phenotypically male. If she did have Androgen insensitivity (XY), outwardly, she would be totally female, minus periods and the top of her vagina. No hormones would be required, ever, not even after menopause (due to the action of aromatase though, not 5 a- reductase which makes DHT from testosterone). I see no reason to believe at the moment that she has any genetic anomaly.
ReplyDeleteYou're all full of crap.
ReplyDeleteThe really retarded thing about the Jamie Lee Curtis rumor is that it undoubtedly arises from the fact she looks so much like her father. The implication being that people think she looks mannish. But people with AIS look very feminine since they can't respond to testosterone. So you would never peg someone with AIS as having AIS in the first place.
ReplyDeleteThe ironic part is I just ran across another message board where someone said Curtis now sports a mustache. She shouldn't be able to grow one at all if she has AIS, you know.
If society didn't look down on women who didn't shave, this rumor could have been put to rest ages ago, because she'd have hair in her pits.