Hey y’all! It’s your girl JoJo Siwa! Yeah, so, some pretty crazy shit went down when I was born, and I haven’t really felt comfortable talking about it in public until now. Basically, when I came out of my mom, I didn’t have arms or legs. Nothing there. Just shoulders and hips. And my doctors were like, “Shit!” They didn’t know where the fuck my limbs were. It seemed like it was going to be a pretty shitty situation for me, but I have some great news: They grew in within a few days so everything is fine now!
It took me so long to bring this up because I didn’t want my fans to worry about me. There’s always a possibility they would read the part about me being born without arms and legs, but miss the part about me being fine now. I didn’t want to have a big fuckin’ pity party for myself and make it seem like I was desperate for attention, especially since my arms and legs fully grew in by the time I was three or four days old, and I was pretty young then so I barely remember it. All I remember is going to bed one night without arms and legs and waking up the next morning and feeling a pain like you wouldn’t believe as adult sized fingers and toes began to tear out of my stumps. Yay!
I can imagine life would be a lot different for me now if my arms and legs never grew in. For one, I probably wouldn’t have been able to dance very well on Dance Moms, and I would have been limited to rolling around (which would have SUCKED!!). It’s doubtful I would have attracted the fanbase that I have now without being able to dance on that show about dancing. Plus, if my arms and legs had never come in, I wouldn’t have done a very good job of judging on So You Think You Can Dance because I would have been too focused on how I didn’t have any limbs and no one knew why. So I’m really, really grateful that everything worked out for me and that everything is fine now.
I asked my mom if she would have thrown me in the garbage if my arms and legs never grew back, and she said, “Probably.” So, I’m really glad that my arms and legs went, “Vrooooomp,” and came on out where they belong, because I have so much singing and dancing to give the world.
If you’re born without arms and legs, my advice is to just hang in there and keep a positive attitude and hope for the best. In my case, when they grew back, first it was just a couple of adult sized fingers and toes, then it was adult sized hands and feet, and finally, adult sized arms and legs—so you never know what’s going to happen in that kind of situation. Eventually, my small baby body caught up with my adult limbs and I was fine, and I hope I stay fine forever! JoJo out!
