One in 500 men has Klinefelter syndrome. The syndrome affects people from all walks of life, including the most influential and powerful. This article lists the 9 famous people with Klinefelter syndrome.
What is Klinefelter syndrome?
This condition is a genetic abnormality that occurs when a child is born with an extra copy of thecromosoma X. Unfortunately, this problem is difficult to diagnose when the child is still young. Normal humans have 46 chromosomes, two of which are sex chromosomes that determine gender. Females have two X sex chromosomes, while males have one X and one Y sex chromosome.
Therefore, a man with this condition may have an extra X sex chromosome in each cell (XXY) or an extra X chromosome in some of the cells. Some patients have more than one extra X sex chromosome, causing a severe form of Klinefelter syndrome. Its symptoms become evident when it reaches adulthood. This condition begins by affecting the growth of the testicles, leading to smaller than normal testicles.
It also results in low testosterone production, leading to reduced muscle mass, less facial and body hair, wider female hips, larger breasts, weaker bones, and lower energy levels. Also notable is the fact that most men with Klinefelter syndrome produce little or no sperm. This is why it is very difficult for men with this condition to have biological children.
However, medical experts have discovered severalassisted reproduction proceduresthat help men with this problem to produce enough sperm. This allowed some patients to have biological children. It is important to mention that the effects of Klinefelter syndrome are different and not all people have the same symptoms.
What are the symptoms of Klinefelter syndrome?
As mentioned above, the symptoms of Klinefelter syndrome become apparent as the patient enters adulthood. In addition, it presents a wide range of symptoms that may not be the same in all patients. For example, children will only have a few symptoms or very mild symptoms. For older men, the syndrome has a noticeable effect on their growth and appearance.
Signs and symptoms of Klinefelter in babies
• Weak muscles
• Slow motor development: the baby takes longer than normal to sit up, crawl and walk
• Speech delay
• Complications of childbirth, including testicles not descending into the scrotum
Signs and symptoms of Klinefelter syndrome in children and adolescents
• Physique taller than average
• Long legs, short torso, and wider hips compared to other children.
• Absent, delayed, or incomplete puberty
• Less muscle mass and less facial and body hair compared to other adolescents, even after puberty
• Small, firm testicles
• small penis
• Enlarged breast tissue (gynecomastia)
• Weak bones
• Low energy levels
• Tendency to be shy and sensitive
• Difficulty communicating your thoughts and feelings, or socializing
• Problems with reading, writing, spelling, or math
Signs and symptoms of Klinefelter syndrome in men
• Low sperm count or no sperm
• Small testicles and penis
• Low sexual desire
• Above average height
• Weak bones
• Disminución del vello facial y corporal
• Less muscular compared to other men
• Enlarged breast tissue
• Increased abdominal fat
Do you need to see a doctor?
You should see a doctor if your baby experiences a developmental delay during infancy or youth. In most cases, growth retardation in babies is the first sign of various complications that need treatment, including Klinefelter syndrome. While some disparity in the physical and mental growth of babies is normal, it's a good idea to seek a doctor's opinion when you notice signs of abnormalities in your child.
You should also consult a doctor if you are unable to father a child. Most men with this condition don't realize they are infertile until they are unable to have children.
9 Famous People With Klinefelter Syndrome
1. Jorge Washington
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George Washington was an American soldier, statesman, and founder, who served as the first President of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Washington is believed to have Klinefelter syndrome, and some people even speculate that he was infertile because he did not have any children. biological. This statement was fueled by the fact that his only two children are adopted.
In addition to her alleged infertility, which is a common symptom of Klinefelter syndrome, Washington's body features also support this claim. For example, men with this condition are often very tall, and Washington was 6 feet 12 inches. But there is no recorded evidence to show that he suffered from Klinefelter syndrome.
2. Lili Elba
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Lili Elbe was a renowned Danish artist who was born in December 1882. At birth her name was Einar, Andrea Magnus Wegner, but she changed her name to Lili Elbe after undergoing sex reassignment surgery in 1931 for Klinefelter syndrome.
In 1930, Lili was sterilized by Dr. Ludwig Levy-Lenz, significantly fueling speculation that she had the syndrome. Her feminine-looking face, legs, and body shape have also led to increased speculation about her condition. Lili died in 1931 during plastic surgery to insert a uterus. She had no children.
3. Veronique Francoise Caroline Renard
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Also known as Pantau, Veronique Françoise Caroline Renard is a famous Dutch author, actress and visual artist. Born male in May 1965, Veronique went throughsex reassignmentin 1982. He was officially diagnosed with Klinefelter syndrome at a young age.
He is childless and even practiced celibacy between 2001 and 2005. In addition to being diagnosed with Klinefelter syndrome, he also has the feminine appearance, including wide hips, a feminine face, and an unusual height commonly associated with people with this condition. . . . Veronique currently lives in Bangkok with his family.
4. Carolina Cossey
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Born in August 1954, Caroline Cossey is a well-known British model known by her stage name Tula. She was in the James Bond movie "for your Eyes Only” in 1981. He was outed by a British tabloid “News of the World” as transgender after his appearance in the film.
Although he was born and raised as a man, he always admitted in his autobiographies that he was confused about his sexuality. He also claims that his classmates always bullied him because of his feminine appearance. At 17, Cossey was officially diagnosed with Klinefelter syndrome and immediately began hormone therapy.
She finally underwent a sex change in 1974 with the help of the little money she had saved while working as a topless dancer in Rome. In addition to being positively diagnosed with this condition, she also has an unusual height of 6 feet and other feminine characteristics that are usually associated with Klinefelter syndrome. He currently lives in Kennesaw, United States.
5. Caster Semenya
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Born in January 1991, Caster Semenya is a renowned South African athlete and Olympic gold medalist. He is believed to have Klinefelter syndrome, especially given his mixed appearance. For example, he has female breasts and male face. In 2009, Semenya was subjected to several “gender tests” and banned from international competition for a year.
He was later cleared by the IAAF to continue to participate in international competition, but his test results were never published.
6. Tom Cruise
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Tom Cruise is a celebrated American actor and producer who has appeared in many popular movies and has received numerous accolades for his work. Born in 1962, Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (Tom Cruise) has always been suspected of suffering from Klinefelter syndrome. Although he is married with three children, people still speculate about his gender.
One of the main reasons people say they have Klinefelter syndrome is that their three children are not their biological children. Tom also has a rounded body and a very feminine appearance. But there is no medical record to show that he has the condition.
7. Jaime Lee Curtis
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Jaime Lee Curtis is a popular Hollywood actress who is said to have been born with an intersex condition. Some people even speculate that she is a male who was born with Klinefelter syndrome. It has also been widely speculated that Lee underwent a sex change to appear more feminine.
However, he often refused to answer questions related to this claim in all of his interviews, further increasing the buzz. Some people even claim that her parents gave her a unisex name so she could fit her whether she became a woman or not. The feminine appearance of her also contributed greatly to the growing rumors.
8. Janet's Taunt
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Janet Mock is a famous American television writer and producer who was born a man but later underwent a sex reassignment procedure. At birth, Janet was named Charles. It is suspected that she suffered from Klinefelter syndrome. However, she never commented on questions about her genitalia in all interviews.
9. Lauren Foster
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Lauren Foster is a famous South African model who was born a man but later came out as transgender. When she was a child, Foster was diagnosed with Klinefelter syndrome, and she later decided to identify as a woman. She worked as a model in South Africa and France for many years. She also wanted to compete in the Miss South Africa pageant, but she was disqualified.
FAQs
Does Adele have Klinefelter's? ›
But Adele says even though she was terrified of turning into a man, the treatment actually backfired. After a few months, Adele began to go through puberty. But as is common with people with Klinefelter's syndrome, she didn't develop a deeper voice or grow facial hair and actually developed small breasts.
Does Klinefelter syndrome affect IQ? ›Research has shown that the average intelligence (sometimes known as IQ) of boys with Klinefelter Syndrome is lower than that of boys with the usual number of chromosomes. In one study, the average IQ score was 98 for boys with Klinefelter compared with a value of 112 in the other boys.
What is the female version of Klinefelter syndrome? ›Overview. Turner syndrome, a condition that affects only females, results when one of the X chromosomes (sex chromosomes) is missing or partially missing. Turner syndrome can cause a variety of medical and developmental problems, including short height, failure of the ovaries to develop and heart defects.
How common is Klinefelter syndrome? ›Boys and men with Klinefelter syndrome are still genetically male, and often will not realise they have this extra chromosome, but occasionally it can cause problems that may require treatment. Klinefelter syndrome affects around 1 in every 660 males.
Does Klinefelter syndrome get worse with age? ›In males with Klinefelter syndrome (KS, non-mosaic karyotype 47, XXY), which is the most common sex chromosome aneuploidy, age-related morbidity and mortality are increased, and a significantly reduced life span has been observed.
Can Klinefelter grow facial hair? ›Klinefelter syndrome may adversely affect testicular growth, resulting in smaller than normal testicles, which can lead to lower production of testosterone. The syndrome may also cause reduced muscle mass, reduced body and facial hair, and enlarged breast tissue.
Is Klinefelter's a disability? ›Most males with the 47,XXY karyotype have normal intelligence. Intellectual disability occurs in males with Klinefelter syndrome variants, who have a higher number of X chromosomes. About 70% of patients have minor developmental and learning disabilities.
Which parent causes Klinefelter syndrome? ›Boys typically have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome, or XY, but boys with XXY syndrome have an extra X chromosome, or XXY. Klinefelter syndrome is not caused by anything the parents did or did not do.
Does Klinefelter syndrome affect teeth? ›Consequently, males affected by KS have larger teeth than males with a normal chromosomal complement (19, 32, 36, 44, 47-49). The importance of the X chromosome to tooth size is directly related to the number of extra X chromosomes, and its effect on general growth patterns and enamel thickness (50).
Does Klinefelter syndrome affect the brain? ›Klinefelter syndrome has increased brain responses to auditory stimuli and motor output, but not to visual stimuli or Stroop adaptation.
Does Klinefelter syndrome affect mental health? ›
KS patients are more than three times more likely than the general population to be hospitalized with a psychiatric disorder, with a hazard ratio of 3.65 [6]. Two of the most prevalent and debilitating affective symptoms among KS patients are anxiety and depression.
Is Klinefelter an intersex? ›Significantly, Sax did not consider either Klinefelter's or Turner syndrome as intersex, as they are not 'associated with ambiguous genitalia, or with any confusion regarding sexual identity' (177).
Can you have babies with Klinefelter? ›If I have KS, will I be able to get a woman pregnant? It is possible that an XXY male could get a woman pregnant naturally. Although sperm are found in more than 50% of men with KS3, low sperm production could make conception very difficult.
What is the life expectancy of a male with Klinefelter syndrome? ›In general, life expectancy is normal. Some research has found that life expectancy for men with the condition may be a year or two less than those without it because of other health problems linked to Klinefelter.
Who is most at risk for Klinefelter? ›Klinefelter syndrome occurs in about 1 out of 500 to 1,000 baby boys. Women who get pregnant after age 35 are slightly more likely to have a boy with this syndrome than younger women.
Are Klinefelter males short? ›In addition to being tall, KS boys may have: Smaller testes and penis. Breast growth (about one-third of teens with KS have breast growth) Less facial and body hair.
What gender would XXY be? ›Generally, individuals possessing 47, XXY karyotype have male phenotype. However, in the present case in spite of the presence of Y chromosome and the normal SRY, SOX9, and ZFY genes, the individual has a female phenotype.
Why are people with Klinefelter syndrome so tall? ›From early school age, boys with Klinefelter syndrome tend to be taller (increased leg length) in part because testosterone (via conversion to oestrogen) normally stops the long bones from growing after puberty. This increase in height is maintained throughout life.
What is everyday life like with Klinefelter syndrome? ›They may tend to be quiet, shy, and more reserved or sensitive than other guys. Some boys with Klinefelter syndrome are less interested in sports or physical activities. Since high-school life often revolves around schoolwork and sports, guys with Klinefelter may feel like they don't fit in or lack self-confidence.
Does Klinefelter cause weight gain? ›The main result of the present study is the strikingly increased frequency of the metabolic syndrome in Klinefelter's syndrome, with a high occurrence of increased body fat, waist circumference, insulin resistance, and increased LDL cholesterol and CRP levels, but with apparently normal blood pressure and, ...
Can men with Klinefelter syndrome build muscle? ›
Klinefelter syndrome may adversely affect testicular growth, resulting in smaller than normal testicles, which can lead to lower production of testosterone. The syndrome may also cause reduced muscle mass, reduced body and facial hair, and enlarged breast tissue.
Do people with Klinefelter go bald? ›KS does not protect the affected male from having AGA [2]. Baldness was reported in 19% (20 out of 104) patients of KS with a mean age of 45 in a large study [10].
Is Klinefelter syndrome associated with autism? ›In about 10-25% of cases, it is associated with known medical conditions. Population-based studies of autism have found that Klinefelter's syndrome (KS), a common chromosome abnormality, is sometimes associated with autism.
Can you produce sperm with Klinefelter syndrome? ›Almost all men with a 47,XXY karyotype will be infertile; Klinefelter syndrome accounts for 3 percent of male infertility. Klinefelter syndrome is common in infertile men with oligospermia or azoospermia (5 to 10 percent). Infertility in men with Klinefelter syndrome is caused by a precipitous drop in sperm count.
What is the most common treatment for Klinefelter's? ›Testosterone replacement therapy.
Starting at the time of the usual onset of puberty, testosterone replacement therapy can be given to help stimulate changes that normally occur at puberty, such as developing a deeper voice, growing facial and body hair, and increasing muscle mass and sexual desire (libido).
Individuals with an extra X chromosome (Klinefelter syndrome) are at risk for problems in social functioning and have an increased vulnerability for autism traits. In the search for underlying mechanisms driving this increased risk, this study focused on social attention, affective arousal and empathy.
Does Adele Markham have Klinefelter syndrome? ›Adele Markham has a rare genetic disorder called Klinefelters, which means she is not male or female, but both – known as intersex. Born as Matthew, her parents were delighted to be told they had a son, after having two older girls.
What is Adele's illness? ›Adele has detailed her battles with anxiety and depression, revealing she was left bedbound and struggling with her mental health in the midst of her divorce from Simon Konecki.
What was Adele's illness? ›Adele has been battling chronic pain ever since she was a teenager and last year, she suffered more agony when she slipped a disc in her back.
What was Adele's condition? ›Perinatal depression and anxiety disorder
Among professionals, the term for Adele's experience is “perinatal mood disorder” or “perinatal depression and anxiety disorders.”
Which parent causes XYY syndrome? ›
XYY syndrome is not caused by anything the parents did or did not do. The disorder is a random error in cell division. This error can happen before conception in the reproductive cells of the mother or the father, or early in the embryo's development.
How many babies are born with XXY syndrome? ›| Number of extra X chromosomes | One (XXY) | Two (XXXY) |
|---|---|---|
| Number of newborn males with the condition | 1 in 500 | 1 in 50,000 |
This XXY chromosome arrangement is one of the most common genetic variations from the XY karyotype, occurring in approximately one in 500 live male births.
What was Adele's surgery for? ›Sometimes all that usage leaves celebrities' vocal cords damaged and they opt for surgery to correct the problem — which, in some cases, saves their careers. In 2012, Adele found out that she had a polyp on her vocal cord that had hemorrhaged.
What caused Adele's anxiety? ›Adele opened up about the intense bouts of anxiety she experienced during her divorce. “I had the most terrifying anxiety attacks after I left my marriage,” she told Oprah during her One Night Only special. “I wouldn't be able to have any control over my body.”
Who is Adele's husband? ›Divorce. Adele spoke extensively about her split with her ex-husband, Simon Konecki, who is also the father of their 9-year-old son, Angelo.
What happens to Adele's son? ›Adele named her son Angelo Adkins – taking Adele's last name. She shares her only child with ex-husband Simon Konecki, whom she divorced in 2021, they began dating in 2011 and married in 2018 before calling it quits in 2019. They continue to co-parent their son together.
Is Adele epileptic? ›Adele shares her experiences and struggles in having her epilepsy through her teens, university and motherhood. As well as her fears around brain surgery, which was successful in treating her epilepsy.
What singer lost their voice? ›Linda Ronstadt lost her ability to sing nearly a decade ago, and now her vision and hearing are going too. But the Grammy-winning singer, best known for songs like “You're No Good” and “Blue Bayou,” has not let her growing list of ailments slow her down.
Why do singers lose their voice? ›This occurs from decades of voice use so that the vocal cords become worn out as an individual ages." Many singers develop growths or nodules on their vocal cords that can bleed and eventually scar. Scarring makes the voice hoarse. Advances in technology have made surgeries to remove those growths much more common.
How old was Adele when she had surgery? ›
The 23-year-old underwent "vocal cord microsurgery", according to a statement from the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, USA. "Based on the advice of her doctor and voice therapist in the United Kingdom, Adele came to Boston to consult and undergo corrective voice surgery," it said.