How Megan Fox Really Feels About Her Thumbs

Megan Fox‘s thumbs have become almost as famous as Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or any other work from the rest of the actress’ filmography. The internet is slightly obsessed with them, in fact. The truth is that Fox doesn’t discuss them much, but she did mention them on The Tonight Show a few years ago in a joke to then-host Jay Leno.

Megan Fox’s thumbs are genetic

Fox has a condition called brachydactyly. Brachydactyly is an inherited trait that causes the shortening of bones. In Fox’s case, her “club thumbs,” as they are sometimes called, are medically referred to as brachydactyly type D, meaning the trait specifically affects her thumbs. It gives the star’s thumbs a stubbier, flatter look than her other fingers or most people’s thumbs. Other common names for the condition are carpenter’s thumbs, stub thumbs or toe thumbs, though all of those are pretty insulting.

Here’s what she’s said about them

Fox’s thumbs have hardly hurt her career, however. She’s regularly named among the most beautiful actresses in Hollywood and has starred in two of the biggest franchises of the last 15 years. On the rare occasion that she does mention her thumbs, she is lighthearted about it. In 2012, Fox appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and while discussing her recent pregnancy, she mentioned that she cut out sushi while carrying her child due to mercury risks. “What is weird to me is, I was talking to my mom, and she was like, ‘Oh, I ate tuna every day when I was pregnant with you,'” Fox told Leno. “I was wondering if that was what happened to my thumbs. They’re weird, and they’re really fat, and there’s like a weird knuckle.” In another TV appearance, this time on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Fox discussed her fascination with palm reading and talked about her palm, the shape of her hand and how they compared to Kimmel’s. Clearly she isn’t embarrassed to talk about her hands, and she doesn’t go out her way to hide her infamous thumbs. While the internet might be obsessing over the unique digits, the This Is 40 star is not.

Megan Fox’s thumbs are now infamous

Although most fans would not have noticed it, during the prime years of her career, Fox’s hands were occasionally photoshopped to have entirely different thumbs. Several advertising campaigns featuring the star either swapped her hands for a double or digitally edited her digit. In her 2010 Motorola Superbowl commercial, for example, it’s obvious that a hand model was subbed in for Fox’s thumb to swipe through the phone’s screen. Looking back at that ad now that Fox is more well-known makes the switch obvious. Her thumbs even got their own bit on a 2014 episode of Tosh.0 where comedian Daniel Tosh joked about how, although she was otherwise perfect, her digits were a dealbreaker. It wasn’t exactly the freshest joke in 2014 either, but it was proof that her unique condition was cemented in mainstream knowledge. Interestingly, the usually unforgiving and often mean tabloids have avoided Fox’s thumbs. Even when OK! wrote an insulting (and false) story about Fox being “addicted” to plastic surgery, the tabloid focused on her face and “nips and tucks.” The actress has had extensive tattoo removal done, but there is no evidence of anything more. Gossip Cop busted the story at the time, of course. It’s also worth noting that, while mercury risks are real, there is nothing that actually connects brachydactyly with increased tuna consumption while pregnant.