An Urban Legend that Might be True
Jonathan Rowe on Mar 11th 2006
Snopes.com does yeoman’s work in debunking urban myths. So I decided to do some research on something I had heard which I was certain to be an urban legend. And what surprised me was that Snopes couldn’t give a definite “debunked,” but rather gave an “undetermined.” The “fact” in question is whether Jamie Lee Curtis was born with both male and female sex organs, something I’ve heard about for years but dismissed as an urban legend.
I previous thought this had to be wrong because she and her husband Christopher Guest had children, something intersexed people (who have an XY chromosome) cannot do. But apparently, her children are adopted.
Also, something Snopes discusses which I never before realized, but that gives credibility to the “story,” both “Jamie” and “Lee” are “two-way” gender names (indeed, I have a brother named “Jamie”). Her parents, unsure of her gender, named her that….
Finally, the funniest thing I can think of relating to this tale is: A number of years ago Howard Stern sent a female intern out to ask “Stuttering John” questions to various celebrities (this was while John was still with the show, but when Stern was sending other interns out to ask these questions). She came across Jamie Lee Curtis who was at some outing with a bunch of children. The intern prefaced the conversation with some “ordinary interview” questions, which seemed to mildly annoy Curtis who was giving very brief, perfunctory answers.
Then the intern, trying to contain her laughter, let loose with the big one (paraphrasing): “So clear up the rumors Jamie Lee, were you born with a penis?” And Curtis just flipped out. “How dare you ask me such a thing when children are around?” It was so funny! It was the type of thing you feel guilty about laughing over because you realize that it crossed the line of civility and decency.
Update: Welcome Comcast readers! If you liked my post, please explore the rest of this site where you may find more interesting posts from myself and my three other very learned co-bloggers.
Filed in The Basement, The Bistro
I”d always heard that she had an XY chromosome as a result of some rare but not that rare genetic abnormality that nevertheless still expressed as fully female. There are several different kinds of XY “women,” and Jamie is supposedly the most “normal” kind. I believe this was an anecdote dropped in the relevant college biology course, but I may be mistaken.
My understanding is that Ms. Curtis is not, nor ever was, a hemaphrodite. She never possessed some unusual combination of male and female external genitals. But she *does* possess one X chromosome and one Y chromosome. What she has is a mutation that gives her malfunctioning androgen receptors. Her endocrine cells manufacture male androgens (hormones), but it is all for naught as no cells can recognize or receive them. The “default” for the human body is female development, and so that’s what she developed as. But she is infertile because of the XY chromosome and because she doesn’t have the female hormonal cycle.
This is purely hearsay for me, but I did hear it from a biology TA at a well respected school. Hopefully, given the tuition, it’s worth something. =)
Jon–
I’m uncertain about Ms. Curtis’s genotype and phenotype, but let’s face a certain blunt truth. If she came out as intersex or transgendered or what-have-you, it’d probably be the end of her career. I rather doubt that Ellen Degeneres or Ian McKellen will ever get a role as a romantic lead; Rupert Everett will probably be romantic leads only in period pieces. These three actors are openly gay, and that restricts the roles that producers will give them. Being openly intersex would probably be much worse for Jamie Lee Curtis’s career. I wish Hollywood were otherwise, but it ain’t.
It’s called testicular feminization. I actually think the story has legs.
Yeah, it’s ‘official’ term is “Androgen insensitivity syndrome”. I met a woman in my human genetics course in college with Androgen insensitivity syndrome. Women with complete insensitivity look phenotypically like girls/women. The woman we interviewed didn’t know of her condition (XY but with syndrome, nothing develops much) until she was 18 and getting married and worried that she had never had a period.
It’s not so rare really, well, 1/10,000 births or something like that.
And I swear when I was taking the course we were given a list of famous women who had (modern determinination) or possibly (historical evidence suggests) had Androgen insensitivity syndrome and Jamie Lee Curtis was on the list with a quote from her… but that was 20 years ago now and I don’t have the paper.
if she has this condition, first of all, people who have this condition are xxy, not xy,
No no no, XXY is Klinefelter’s syndrome. That’s completely different. Everybody else is right about the androgen insensitivity, though. What interesting things one learns in college…..
Does anyone know if JLC was born with a “tail”? For real, I need to know.
If I were asked if I was born with a penis around children, I’d be furious too, and I am most certainly not a hermaphrodite. That’s all.
I feel sad that Comcast felt the need to resurect this story as front page news.
Now she has to re live the nightmare.
Rumor mongers, Speculators and Idiots.
First of all it’ none of YOUR business or MINE. Jamie Lee is a terrific actress and one beautiful lady. For all I care, she could be from the planet Xenondra and have five eyes and six ears. It would not make her any worse the person.
Have to admit, this caught my interest, although I had never heard of this legend. I do feel the need to comment, though. WHO CARES? Is it our business, NO. Let’s get on with the important aspects of our lives.
If she was born a hermaphrodite they made the correct decision to go female. Jamie Lee is the sexiest woman in the business, even today. True or false she had no choice in the matter, so let it go and worry about something important.
I don’t care. She’s still a hot piece of ass…at least she was before she hit the wall.
It seems that people that don’t understand the subject matter are foolish.
They speak out of there ASS…… Who realy cares about JLC if she has this
condition. She is a loving mother and a wonderful person.
Leave her to be happy and live her life. And for the person who asked if she was born with a Tail ( Shame on you) Grow up
For gods sake leave the actress alone its her business and hers alone she is a great actress
So what if she was born a penis or whatever? People with no life whatsoever has such a boring life that they have to make up stuff like this? I dont think its funny at all to ask such questions in front of children.
Go run out into the street and get hit!!!
well, i think she is a good actress.
I hope its not true, because I have always found her incredibly hot! Her body seems very female to me.
I have to admit I honestly don’t care either. I think it was really tasteless of Howard Stern to do that, and I agree with the people who are pissed off in the coments above.
And yes, I write for this site.
While you’re here, maybe you could visit the front page, where we’re talking about the role of religion in the U.S. government, the Hamdan Supreme Court case, and various other more serious issues.
its nobody’s business she is a very gifted actress and came from parents who were also great in the field of acting. why should it be of anyone’s concern I mean after all is that a question that anyone ask when first meeting someone. get a clue people or maybe we should just consider the type of person that the question came from.
I am proud of Jamie for her care for what children hear. Maybe if more people had this respect for the innocents of children the world would not be in a place like this with all the selfish and ignorant people who should mind there own business If they have any lives of their own they should worry about themselves and not others. Unless of course they our using their concerns for others business and personal lives by helping others. Such as volunteering for a good cause, perhaps the future of our worlds children?
As a mother of a 23 year old daughter, I think it would have been tragic to have to make that kind of decision, ( do you want a boy or girl) just after giving birth. If this is true, I think JLK has done a fantastic job at staying true to herself.
With a body like that, who cares? I know I don’t!
Jamie Lee has the best breasts in the business! Howrd Stern is an ASS! Why don’t you leave her alone!!!
A friend of mine just told me this also. I took it as what it probably is, a vicious rumor. Of course Jamie Lee would not justify this with a comment, whether or not it is true. She is, for a lack of a better term, too much of a lady! Nicole Kidman is very tall and also adopted her children, is everybody running around concerned if she has a testosterone receptor problem? Scientists also say a good percentage of the prison population has an extra sex chromosome, leading to violent behavior, maybe that will give people something else to talk about.
You know, folks, we weren’t the ones who did this. And many of the comments I’ve deleted were even worse than the above.
Rowe mentioned this incident in part because we often discuss free speech issues here, and Stern is often a strong test case of the First Amendment. It’s not because 1) we hate Jamie Lee Curtis 2) we’re evil people or even 3) we like Howard Stern. (I personally can’t stand the guy.)
So… If you’re angry at us, please try to calm down. And if you’re wondering where your comment went, I think I just gave you your answer.
It’s COMCAST that is low class for publishing this “fact” on their main page. How tacky for a major comany to put Jamie Lee Curtis out there like that. If anyone is upset - be upset with COMCAST. Actually, anyone who has read this far into the posts should question what there reasons are for doing so. Maybe it’s YOU that has no life.
I’m almost 60 and never heard any of this. I could have lived the rest of my life with out knowing. Who cares? Get a life and worry about something that matters. Like our lack of health care for most of our population.
This is the first time I have ever even read such a thing and since we live in America I guess I can have my say also. Do you people have nothing better to do then talk such rubbish. Our country is on a down hill slope and you all talk trash. Get a life people get into something that is going to make life better not tear it down. Its not for us or anyone to judge another. Remember people who live in glass houses shouldnt toss stones, are any of us so purrrrfect that we have the right do harm or bring pain to another. I dont think so. Sign up to vote, go help someone.
I’ve never seen her in a film I didn’t like. She’s a good actress and on the rare ocassion I have seen her on a talk show, she seems to be a genuinely nice person, which is a hell of a lot more than I can say about the mindless morons who see nothing wrong with making this a hot topic. Typical of Howard Stern and anyone else who promotes this kind of invasion of privacy (and about a birth condition over which she had no control or choice), it just reinforces what I was taught as a child; malicious people are the bottom dwellers of the human race. They can’t help themselves: little things amuse little minds.
Jamie Lee Curtis is one of my favorite actresses and all this stuff about her is a bunch of hooey to me. Regardless if the rumor is true or not does not change the fact that she is an incredible female, excellent in her movies, very attractive and her body looks very female to me. I can care less what she may or may not have had when she was born. I admire her very much and I think the question is “does it really matter?.Leave it alone.
I think it was in poor taste for COMCAST to run this story on Jamie. It is truly tasteless and to an extent, out of character. But, this is where we are today in our society. Where are the boundaries, if there are any? Why would anyone consider it funny to ask an adult if they were born with a penis in front of kids? I think they should provide a piece now to fully explain the context of their decision to put this type of rumor out in the public arena. Whether it’s true or not really has no bearing at this point.
People, People Find something else worth while to talk about.
And? Is that all? Ok, I thought something very important was being talked about. I don’t find this topic very important at all, in fact why is it being brought up anyway? Does it affect her acting? Base her acting success on this? Is her talent, beauty, dertermination, her sexual appearance or personality being judged by it? Regardless of how she was born, she is one of my favorite actresses. I admire this woman, including her marriage that has lasted more than most in the entertainment world. Obviously her husband isn’t bothered by this with her, true or not. Leave it alone.
[...] Yesterday we received over ten thousand hits. Virtually all of them were for this post on Howard Stern’s tacky resurrection of a certain Jamie Lee Curtis urban legend. [...]
Hi folks:
Take out any anger you have on me. I wrote the post.
I am a long time fan of Howard Stern’s. And while I don’t endorse many of the things he says or in this case, directs others to say, I have enjoyed many a guilty laughs by listening to his material.
Greetings Earthlings,
Hey, Mother Nature has some very strange surprises for us. I just watched a program on medical mysteries that includes a man and his relatives that have very hairy faces. His face is totally covered with hair like a gorilla. He’s got a babe for a girlfriend that loves him. Another affliction is called Morgellans disease that causes people to sprout hair from under the skin that is RED and BLUE and is not believed to be synthetic or biologic. Figure that one out.Creatures in the ocean routinely alter their skin color to totally disguise themselves with their background. Jamie Lee is a great actress with georgeous legs,fantastic breasts,a pretty face etc,etc. I don’t care about the rest-leave her alone. And just for the record-Howard Stern and his junior high school level antics suck. Mildly amusing at times but for the most part, immature.
I don’t know if any of this is true or not. However, trusting my gut, as a man, I’ve always had a strange reaction to Jamie…..a kind of, I’m not feeling attracted or, there’s something not quite right about her, feeling. I think that she’s a great actress, and that she can be attractive at times, but she’s always felt or appeared a little masculine to me. This speculation is interesting and just confirms that there’s something that I just can’t put my finger on.
RW –
As part of the “gay half” of this website, I’m not well qualified to judge. Some straight men do seem to find her very attractive, though. To each his own.
Just to make something clear: having AIS would make Jamie Lee Curtis the ultimate woman, despite having XY sexual chromosomes.
All women have a certain amount of testosterone acceptance that balances out their estrogen, and all men have a certain amount of estrogen acceptance that balances out their testosterone levels.
A person with testicular feminization would be male, but never develop testicles, a penis, etc. Rather, they would appear female, and would be 100% feminine in appearance, as every hormone accepted by their bodies would be female. So it makes sense that Jamie Lee Curtis would have some of the best breasts and bodies in the business. Objectively, she would be the most truly female woman working in Hollywood.
I’m an XY female myself (I have Swyer Syndrome), and frankly I think JLC need never say whether or not she has AIS. But if she did, she’d instantly become a role model for me :P
Caitlin: Actually all AIS people develop testicles. Testicle development is governed by the SRY gene; it is the lack of androgen receptors that causes them to stay undescended. I know this because that’s one of the major differenced between AIS and my own condition. I don’t have any gonads, testicles or ovaries, but I have excellently working androgen receptors. The few androgens that my body makes have given me pubic hair. An AIS person, as I said, will have undescended testes but no pubic hair. As for the rest of your comment… well, sure, if you want to think of it that way, but sex is not all hormones. I don’t produce any estrogen at all - but I have a uterus. What kind of woman does that make me? Lesser?
When I was a medical student in the late ’80s, a colleague came back from a rotation at Cedars-Sinai and started talking about this as JLC was being evaluated for infertility there and was diagnosed with Testicular Feminization Syndrome or AIS. I was appalled that she would talk about the issue - even to other medical students - and never mentioned it to anyone for years until I heard it had made the news.
The last commenter is right - someone with AIS will have XY chromosomes (a male genotype) and often “streak gonads” - testicles that form in the abdomen but never descend into the scrotal sac. By default, they appear female (a female phenotype) because that is what how humans develop in the absence of testosterone (or testosterone receptors). There is a characteristic “look” for TFS - boyish figure with large breasts, little to no pubic hair - what we currently consider in our society to be “hot.”
The parents would not know at birth that the child was anything but a normal girl - she would look just like a female externally. She would have a vagina (that is a “blind pouch” because she would have no uterus). Usually this is diagnosed at menarche (first period) or later because of a failure to have periods.
So whether the rumor is true or not, I can’t say - my colleague could have just been passing on the same rumor that started it all. To me, the whole debate says a lot about what we think of our sexuality as humans. Somehow, people who can look at Jamie and think she’s incredibly sexy (as I do) are then shocked and dismayed when they find out she might not be “truly female.” But those same people will watch James Kirk getting it on with a green space alien and think that’s hot too.
Maybe we should all just paraphrase Forrest Gump and say, “Sexy is as sexy does” and leave it at that.
I’ve heard the rumour about JLC also and, given where I’ve heard it, it may well be true. But that doesn’t diminish JLC one iota in my eyes; she is for all intents and purposes a good actress and a lovely human being. The reason for my blog is that there are a number of women out there who are actually genetically XY but don’t know it. They may however find out when they have tried for children and have resorted to testing for the reason for their apparent infertility. However, I know the policy in at least one IVF clinic in Australia is to not tell the woman of their genetic anomaly, as they have no idea what the psychological effects would be to tell someone (and/or their husband/partner) that they are genetically a male but phenotypically a female. The reason for the infertility is generally explained as unknown. Some things are just better left unsaid. Such people are not freaks but just part of the diversity of life.
Just a note on AIS women.
I’ve read that the incidence of homosexuality (lesbianism) among AIS women matches that of the genetically normal population. To me, this is a strong indicator that AIS women are true females. Were they merely “males with female phenotypes” you would expect the incidence of attraction to females to be higher; but it isn’t. So, unless you’re prepared to argue that sexual attraction is solely a matter of social conditioning, it seems more reasonable to infer that AIS women are genuine females.
[...] of jealousy, whenever a celebrity is statuesque, beautiful, and lacking a biological child – Jamie Lee Curtis, Ann Coulter, Gisele Bunchen, and many [...]