--- title: Hello Kitty Is Not a Cat description: The LA Times reports that Hello Kitty is a human girl, not a cat canonical: https://time.com/3197794/hello-kitty-not-a-cat/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-27T21:30:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:12:49.579Z og:title: Hello Kitty Is a Human Girl, Not a Cat og:description: The cat's out of the bag! og:url: https://time.com/3197794/hello-kitty-not-a-cat/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hello Kitty Is a Human Girl, Not a Cat twitter:description: The cat's out of the bag! twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Apparently Hello Kitty is a Human Girl, Not a Cat ## Video: Reactions After England Reaches First Ever FIFA Women's World Cup Final [Watch (HLS stream): Reactions After England Reaches First Ever FIFA Women's World Cup Final](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/eFVDHse9.m3u8) (2:16)  _Published 2023-08-16. England fans roared with pride as the Lionesses reached the World Cup final for the first time. England defeated Australia 3-1 in the semifinal, moving to face Spain in the final slated for Aug. 20._  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Aug 27, 2014 9:30 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Aug 27, 2014 9:30 PM UTC In a [_Los Angeles Times_](http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/miranda/la-et-cam-hello-kitty-in-los-angeles-not-a-cat-20140826-column.html#page=1)interview_,_ Christine Yano, curator of an upcoming exhibit on Hello Kitty at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, said Sanrio considers its billion-dollar icon to be a human girl. As she put it: --- > “” --- --- ### More from TIME --- Cue the collective—and understandable—”[What?!?!?!](https://twitter.com/search?q=hello%20kitty%20not%20a%20cat&src=typd)” on social media. Sanrio indeed confirmed the news and also pointed us to Hello Kitty’s official bio: --- > “” --- _This story was updated to include Sanrio’s response._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3197794/hello-kitty-not-a-cat/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3197794/hello-kitty-not-a-cat/"},"headline":"Apparently Hello Kitty is a Human Girl, Not a Cat","datePublished":"2014-08-27T21:30:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:12:49.579Z","description":"The cat's out of the bag!","url":"https://time.com/3197794/hello-kitty-not-a-cat/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Business topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. Waxman","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3197794/hello-kitty-not-a-cat/","name":"Apparently Hello Kitty is a Human Girl, Not a Cat"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Reactions After England Reaches First Ever FIFA Women's World Cup Final","description":"England fans roared with pride as the Lionesses reached the World Cup final for the first time. England defeated Australia 3-1 in the semifinal, moving to face Spain in the final slated for Aug. 20.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/eFVDHse9/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2023-08-16T16:45:27.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/eFVDHse9.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3197794/hello-kitty-not-a-cat/","duration":"PT2M16S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3197794/hello-kitty-not-a-cat/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```