Fact Check: Woman Allegedly Sued Parents for Giving Her 'Ugly Genes.' It's Not True
Claim:
A California woman sued her parents — and blamed them for her divorces — for giving her “ugly genes.”
Rating:
A claim that a California woman sued her parents for $2 million for giving her "ugly genes" — allegedly blaming them for her three divorces — has circulated online since 2017, re-surfacing again in late 2024.
In the claim, Annabelle Jefferson is quoted as saying, "Both of my parents are so d*** ugly, it is simply cruel to have had kids… During my first divorce, my ex-husband told the judge that every morning he saw my face, he felt nauseous and often had to run to the bathroom and puke… My last husband was technically blind but regained 40% of his sight after a successful eye surgery. He divorced me the next week."
(Interesting-Dream863 on Reddit)
The claim first appeared in 2017 and was shared in Facebook posts that discussed it as fact. The claim continued to spread on social media, including various threads on Reddit that appeared in December 2024.
Users chimed in with a wide range of comments. One person said, "What a sad story. She has an even bigger claim for the stupid gene they passed onto her but she's too stupid to know." Another user responded to the claim by saying, "She still found 3 dudes to marry her. I'm single as a MF over here. I must be ugly as sin."
Somebody else pointed out, "There is literally no trace of this aside from a couple of very dubious 'news sites.' It's probably fake news."
Indeed, Snopes found no evidence of this claim being true and has therefore given it a false rating. The alleged news sites sharing the claim — all copying the story's wording and structure identically — cite its origin at World News, with no hyperlinks included. An independent search of World News yielded no results for this story. Similarly, a search for "Annabelle Jefferson" on CaliforniaCourtRecords.us yielded no results.
In addition, a Google reverse image search revealed the image of the alleged parents shown in some of the claims came from a 2017 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation article about Ashraf and Mohammed Mohyeddin, a senior couple married for 80 years who were the subjects of a short documentary produced by CBC called "100 and Counting." Further, no credible news outlet has reported on this claim.
Snopes has found similar lawsuit claims to be false or labeled satire in the past, including a claim alleging a TikToker sued her parents for being born, the Obamas being sued by Malia and Sasha's biological father and a man suing his wife over their ugly children.
Sources:
"100-Year-Old Couple Tells Us the Secret to Long Life and Lasting Love (It Might Be Linked to Blue Zones!)." CBC Life, 25 Jan. 2017. CBC.ca, https://www.cbc.ca/life/wellness/100-year-old-couple-tells-us-the-secret-to-long-life-and-lasting-love-it-might-be-linked-to-blue-zones-1.3952309.
https://www.cbc.ca/shortdocs/m_shorts/100-and-counting. Accessed 19 Dec. 2024.
