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New ‘RHONY’ Star Jenna Lyons Reveals Teeth, Hair and Eyelashes Are All Fake Due to Genetic Disorder
In a shocking revelation, new Real Housewives of New York cast member Jenna Lyons has revealed that several of her facial features aren’t real due to a rare genetic disorder.
“All my teeth are fake. I paid a lot of money for them,” Jenna, 55, joked during a Wednesday, July 19, appearance on The View, adding, “My hair is also fake. I can take it off. It’s like a hat. It’s not a wig.”
The Bravolebrity explained, “My eyelashes are fake. I have no eyebrows, and I also have scars all over my skin,” due to the condition incontinentia pigmenti. The National Institutes of Health says the disorder “affects the skin and other systems in the body” and leads to “hair loss, small or missing teeth, eye abnormalities that can lead to vision loss and lined or pitted fingernails and toenails” along with skin growths. It is also known as Bloch-Sulzberger syndrome.
Jennifer used the condition as an inspiration to help her succeed in her illustrious fashion career, as she eventually became president of J. Crew, a position she held from 2010 to 2017. “I was really conscious. It’s one of the reasons I went into fashion,” she explained, adding, “I wanted to look better. I was constantly trying to find ways to fit in.”
“When I was doing a lot of red carpets, I kept trying to find eyelashes that looked good and they were just huge on me. I couldn’t wear them,” she revealed. Ultimately, Jennifer took matters into her own hands and became an entrepreneur, creating cruelty-free and natural-looking fake eyelashes. “I couldn’t find what I wanted, so I created a line of lashes that aren’t as over-the-top,” she said.
“I’ve always been obsessed with eyelashes. Because I don’t have any,” Jenna told Allure in a September 2020 interview about her LoveSheen brand that features 10 styles of strip lashes.
When it came to trading in the world of fashion for the beauty industry, the Boston native called it “really refreshing.”
“The thing I appreciate deeply about beauty is that there’s no expiration date and it doesn’t matter what size you are. We get to make people feel beautiful and it’s so fun,” Jenna told the publication.
“It’s really hard to serve people well in the clothing industry. You are trying to be at the right price point, to fit a lot of different people, to be forward-thinking, to be quality. On top of that, the product you’re making is seasonal. It’s a hard engine to fuel. Especially toward the end, I found it really challenging to feel like I was doing a good job and caring for people in the way that I was hoping to,” she added about her career change.
