Tina Fey's scar

This site is about celebrity heights. So why am I writing a post about Tina Fey’s scar? Read on till the end of the post to find out. I have been a fan of Tina Fey since her SNL days. I noticed Tina’s scar in a picture and wondered how she got it. Apparently, thousands of people search for the same thing and until recently they didn’t have an answer. Tina Fey refused to answer questions about the scar and just said that it happened during her childhood. This led to many theories none of which were confirmed by her. Her silence on the matter suggested that it must have been a very traumatic event.

Tina Fey walking with her husband and daughter.

In 2008, Tina Fey finally decided to reveal the secret behind her scar to People magazine. When Tina was five years old, she was sitting in the front yard of her home when a stranger walked up to her and with no warning violently cut her cheek. She didn’t even realize that she had been cut and her initial reaction was that somebody had marked her face with a pen. How did Tina Fey deal with such a traumatic event? Her strategy was to not let this event take over her life. She tried to go on with her life as if this event had not taken place. Having a scar on your face would be traumatic for anybody at any age but one can’t imagine how traumatic it would have been for a young girl. According to her People magazine interview she was able to forget about it until she got in front of the camera. Some people do not even notice the scar when watching her on TV as most of her scenes are shot from the right scar free side. It is quite possible that she chose to get involved with comedy as a way to deal with the traumatic memories of the event.

Tina Fey on SNL's Weekend Update

Now that I have explained the back-story behind Tina Fey’s scar, you must be wondering about the title of the post: “Tina Fey Scar = Short Husband?” This site has a database of celebrity heights. Tina Fey is 5 feet 4 inches tall. I was looking through pictures on Google Images to confirm this height by comparing her height in pictures with the heights of other celebrities. While doing this I came across a picture of her with her husband, Jeff Richmond. In doing so I found out that her husband is much shorter than her. He is 5 feet tall, 4 inches shorter than Tina. Women in general have a very strong preference for somebody who is much taller than them. ABC 20/20 did a show on how strong this preference is by having a line up of short and tall men. Then women were asked to choose men from the line up. All of them chose the tall men. Then they were told that the 5 foot 3 inch male was a doctor and a best selling author. This didn’t make them change their mind. They were informed that the 5 feet tall man in the line up was a millionaire but this still didn’t change the mind of the women either. Finally, the reporter asked the women what could possibly make them pick the 5 feet tall guy. One woman replied that maybe if the other four men in the line up were murderers. You can read a full transcript of the show here. A video clip from the show is posted at the end of this post.

Tina Fey 5 feet 4 inches, Her husband Jeff Richmond is 5 feet tall

Keeping in mind this strong preference for men who are taller, I wondered why Tina Fey married a guy who is 5 feet tall. One simple answer is that Tina Fey is not a shallow person and that she liked her husband’s personality so much that she was able to overcome the instinct women have of choosing males that are taller than them. Did Tina Fey date taller men but rejected them because she found her husband to be the best option for her? In an interview, she told David Letterman that she was a virgin till age 24. At 24 she lost her virginity to her future husband, they had a 7 year relationship and then got married. This suggests that she has only been romantically associated with one man.

Now it is time for some “speculation”. Tina Fey jokingly told Letterman that she wasn’t a virgin by choice and that she “couldn’t give it away”. I find that hard to believe. She is a very attractive woman now. In the past she didn’t have that Hollywood shine on her but still she was an above average looking woman who would have had no problem “giving it away”. Maybe, Tina Fey had intimacy issues growing up as a teenager because she had been attacked by a man when only 5 years old. Maybe, she found it extremely difficult to trust men or to get close to them because that fear of a total stranger hurting her was so bad that being hurt by somebody close to her would be too much to take. Women are attracted to tall men because they feel “secure” and “protected”. However, in Tina’s case this association between a tall man and feeling secure wouldn’t exist because a man who would have been much taller than the 5 year old Tina attacked her out of nowhere for no apparent reason. Maybe this event resulted in her viewing tall men as unattractive and threatening. At 24 she met her husband, who is 5 feet tall which makes him 4 inches shorter than her. At a subconscious level, this man is not threatening and overbearing like the man who had attacked her when she was sitting on her front porch. She is able to trust him and without even going out with anybody else, she marries him 7 years later. Women in the 20/20 program mentioned earlier were not ready to pick the 5 foot tall man even if he was a millionaire and they would only consider giving him a chance if all the other taller men were murderers. Tina Fey picking a 5 foot tall husband might suggest that she views those other taller men as potentially dangerous at a subconscious level. Finally, you have the answer to why this post is titled: “Tina Fey Scar = Short Husband ?” Crazy speculation? Plausible?  You decide! You can leave comments using the form at the bottom. You will have to enter the text in the image. This prevents automated software from spamming the comments section.

Video Clip from the ABC 20/20 show mentioned in the post:

Video Clip of Tina Fey talking about her being a 24 year old virgin on the David Letterman show:

Does Jon Stewart have a Napoleonic complex? I don’t think so. He is a very funny man and he is certainly not angry about his height. However, he does feel uncomfortable around people who are taller than him. He always shakes hands with his guests while he is standing on a higher level and quickly sits back down in his chair before the guest steps up to Stewart’s level. Whenever, the subject of him being short comes up he deals with it in the best possible way: humor and not anger. Here’s a clip of Stewart joking with Cameron Diaz about how he could have played Tom Cruise’s role in Day and Night as they are both short and about the same height:

Jillian Michaels

I get many questions about the height of Jillian Michaels, the fitness trainer on the NBC show: “The Biggest Loser”. On the show she teams up with Bob Harper to get people in to shape. She adheres to a very aggressive, in your face approach to get the most of out of the contestants. Jillian isn’t satisfied by half measures, she pushes contestants to the point of them puking their guts out. Keeping in mind her very aggressive methods, people are surprised to find out that she is 5 feet 2 inches tall. It seems that some people assume that she is taller because of her confident and aggressive demeanor. Being female doesn’t hurt as she escapes the put down of having a “Napoleon complex” that some short men with aggressive personalities are labeled with.

Cameron on the Left, Sarkozy on the Right

Earlier this year, the  French government complained about David Cameron of the UK making fun of Sarkozy’s  height. Cameron made a remark about “hidden dwarfs” when talking about a picture of himself and Sarkozy. George Osborne, the shadow chancellor at the time, also took a jab at Sarkozy when he removed a stool from behind a lectern and called it the “Sarkozy Box”. Sarkozy is 5 feet 5 inches tall and Cameron is seven inches taller. You would think that being the President of France would some how save Sarkozy from schoolyard height related put downs but sadly that is not the case. It doesn’t suit the leader of the UK to make such remarks about the head of state of a fellow EU country. However, it would have been best for the French government to ignore these jibes instead of making an official complaint. It reinforces the stereotype that height related put downs are an easy way to get under the skin of a short statured person. Read the complete story here.