People all over the world are gobsmacked after finding out the truth about Hello Kitty after a popular American TV show brought the information to light last week.
The cute Japanese cartoon has millions of fans across the globe, and because of her name and appearance, you wouldn't be blamed for believing that she was a cat all this time.
But on a Saturday Night Live (SNL) skit which aired on Saturday, December 3, the truth behind the cartoon was shared - leaving many fans baffled.
The Mirror reports that in the performance, the Hello Kitty store's manager was training up some new recruits as they sat surrounded by the popular cuddly toys.
A manager said: "If you open to page five of your employee handbooks, you'll see a list of facts about Hello Kitty.
They continued: "As you can see, she loves to bake cookies, she goes to school, and she's not a cat, she's a human little girl."
An employee asked: "No... why did you say Hello Kitty was a human little girl?"
It turns out Hello Kitty is in fact a young girl of primary-school age, and not a cat at all.
Fans of SNL were convinced that this had simply been made up for the skit, but according to the creators of the cartoon, all of that information is true.
Christine R. Yano, an anthropologist from the University of Hawaii, set the record straight when she went to the exhibit at the Japanese American National Museum.
But Sanrio, the company behind Hello Kitty, gave her quite the shock when she was writing about the exhibit afterwards.
She told The Los Angeles Times : "That's one correction Sanrio made for my script for the show.
"Hello Kitty is not a cat. She's a cartoon character. She is a little girl. She is a friend. But she is not a cat. She's never depicted on all fours.
"She walks and sits like a two-legged creature. She does have a pet cat of her own, however, and it's called Charmmy Kitty."
The character also apparently resides in London, not Japan, as many people would believe.
Hello Kitty was created in 1974 and the first item, a vinyl coin purse, was introduced in 1975.
Originally Hello Kitty was only marketed towards pre-teenage girls, but during the 1990s, the brand found commercial success among teenage and adult consumers as well.
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