True story: after I read about Hailey Baldwin’s unusual finger condition, I spent the next fifteen minutes obsessively looking through recent paparazzi and red carpet photos of her, trying to find good angles on her hands. Why? Because… science and research! Apparently, Hailey lives on the internet and she’s seen people (who also live on the internet) comment about her hands. Specifically, her somewhat “off-kilter” pinky. It looks like her pinky is permanently crooked/bent. The rest of her fingers seem normal? She has notably long, elegant fingers, actually, so the crooked pinky does stick out:
In a message aimed at fans scrutinizing the appearance of her pinky fingers, Hailey Bieber revealed she has dealt with a genetic condition known as ectrodactyly her “whole life.” Taking to her Instagram story, the model explained of her “crooked and scary” fingers: “I have this thing called Ectrodactyly and it causes my pinky fingers to look the way they do,” according to the Daily Mail.
“It’s genetic, I’ve had it my whole life,” the 23-year-old continued. “So people can stop asking me ‘wtf is wrong with her pinky fingers’ here is what’s wrong! Lol.”
She posted her message alongside a screenshot from the ectrodactyly Wikipedia page. As the University of Missouri detailed, “Cleft hand is a rare, congenital (present at birth) hand anomaly. This condition has been known by several other names, such as ectrodactyly, split hand and lobster claw hand. Today, most prefer to use the term ‘cleft hand.’”
In a separate post, Baldwin also shared a close-up shot of her hand, zoning in on her pinky finger. She later offered a final plea to fans. “So in conclusion please stop roasting me about my pinky fingers,” she wrote.
This kind of weird – but non-life-threatening – medical stuff is fascinating to me. Just as long as it doesn’t involve eyes! I cannot stand talking about strange eye stuff. I’ve heard of hexadactyly, which is when someone has an extra finger on one hand. But I’ve never heard of cleft hand or ectrodactyly. So is it just about one crooked finger? The Wiki page is here – it looks like ectrodactyly is way more severe, and Hailey just has a mild case of two crooked pinkies. Hmm…
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
sadly this is probably the most interesting thing about her.
She’s so gorgeous and seems sweet and harmless. I wish people would stop roasting her about the smallest things.
Sweet and harmless… The way she treats people doesn’t feel like those two words. Her not knowing what this “condition” is called and actually focusing on it like it’s something awful she had to deal with (crooked pinkies, woo freaking hoo), does fit her profile.
She doesn’t come off as an awful person. Just not very sweet and harmless either. Egotistical and not really a bad person would be my choice of words.
Never noticed before she pointed it out.
Looks more to me like Clinodactly, which I also have. Also known in my head as “I have crooked pinkies”.
I don’t have it as severely as her, but I have bent middle fingers at that top/last joint. It bothers me, but no one really notices unless I show them. It doesn’t impact me in any way, and my mom’s hands were the same. It seems like everyone has bent pinkies, but all of my fingers seem a bit crooked (mostly the middles, though). My fingers are also double-jointed, so who knows!
Thank you, Bonita! It irritates me that she is saying she has a different – more severe – diagnosis, when it’s clearly Clinodactyly. I have Clinodactyly as well, with it affecting all of my fingers except for my middle ones. All of my fingers on each side are sloped or bent crookedly toward the middle finger.
Funny story – my mother slammed my hand in a door when I was a child and frantically took me to the ER because she thought that she had broken my finger. The doctor was confused when he had to tell her that “no, her pinkie is just bent that way.” lol
My mom has this! Only her pinky’s too. Idk if it can impact other fingers but this is normal to me because I grew up seeing it. I bet 90% of the people who see my mom would never even notice!
My mom and I both have crooked pinkies as well. It looks like my 9 month old might as well. I’m more concerned with how old my hands look honestly. I have old-people hand syndrome bad. If someone was to guess my age based on my hands, they’d say 60 and I’m 31.
I also have crooked pinkies, not as much as hers though. My dad has them too but my siblings do not.
Wow she has really long fingers! My grandma always said that could mean you would make either a great pianist, or a thief lol.
Genetic counselor here… she has clinodactyly, not ectro. But it is super common! As are extra digits (polydactyly) too.
Came here to say the same thing. That’s not ectrodactyly.
I perform obstetric ultrasounds, and have still never seen an ‘in the wild’ foetus with it.
Clinodactyly, which is what she has (and me too for that matter), is super common and mostly unremarkable.
I just googled both conditions, and you’re all right. She DOES NOT have cleft hand, and definitely has clinodactyl. Think she needs a new doctor…
I have this condition, the crooked pinkies. It’s pretty severe, but no one ever notices and it does not impact my life. They just bend towards my ring finger. Hers looks like the other type where they bend upward (hard to lay hands flat on a surface).
I was thinking of pursuing piano more seriously when I was younger, and my uncle (a pianist) told me I would need to have my fingers broken and reset to reach the further keys played with the pinky. He’s technically right, but I just decided to keep piano a hobby instead 🙂
Hailey Bieber has camptodacyly