Despite what you may have thought growing up, Hello Kitty is not a cat

After half a century in Business and achieving $5 billion in annual retail sales last year, anyone would assume Hello Kitty is the most famous cat in the world. But according to her creators, she isn't a cat at all.

"She's actually a little girl - born and raised in the suburbs of London," said Jill Cook, director of retail Business development at Sanrio, the Japanese company behind the iconic character. "She has a mum and dad and a twin sister who is also her best friend."

Cook revealed to NBC's Today Show that the character "weighs three apples and is five apples tall." Despite having whiskers, Hello Kitty is a human child who has her own cat, a boyfriend named Daniel, and hundreds of friends. "Her core message is friendship, kindness, and inclusivity, " Cook explained.

Naturally, this revelation, though not entirely new, left some fans a bit confused. After all, Hello Kitty appears to be a cat with a little red bow. “So, she has whiskers, ears, and is named ‘Kitty’ but is actually a human?” one fan reacted on TikTok. “What?”

Others felt this fun fact completely changed their perspective. “Hello Kitty has been my favourite since childhood,” another fan wrote. “I’m almost 40 and this is the first time I’m hearing this.”

While it might be news to some, the character previously made headlines in 2014, around her 40th anniversary, for the same reason. Some fans were also surprised to learn about Hello Kitty’s origins. The character was intentionally made British and raised in the London suburbs.

“Hello Kitty emerged in the 1970s when the Japanese and Japanese women were into Britain,” anthropologist Christine Yano said to the Los Angeles Times. “They loved the idea of Britain. It represented the quintessential idealised childhood, almost like a white picket fence. So, the biography was created exactly for the tastes of that time.”

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below.