Phew! We don’t know how Ayanna Williams held on to her lengthy 24-feet (combined) talons for almost 30 years but she did. However, this past weekend the record-breaking duo finally parted ways, according to Ripley’s official website.
Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! and the Guinness World Records joined forces to purchase the claws for an undisclosed amount. Ayanna’s “babies,” as she calls them, will be put on a display at Orlando’s Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! museum.
“I’m gonna always be the queen that I am with or without my nails cause my nails don’t make me, I make my nails,” Ayanna said in a Guinness video.
She made the difficult decision because she’d like to pick “up the pace” and move on “to the next chapter of her life,” Ripley’s reported. Ripley’s accompanied Ayanna to Trinity Vista Dermatology in Fort Worth, Texas over the weekend. Dr. Readinger took lead in clipping the impressive nails. Guinness World Records published an eight-minute video of the event to their YouTube page on Tuesday.
In the video, Ayanna expresses having “mixed emotions” about saying goodbye to the nails.
Ayanna, who hails from Houston in Texas, broke the Guinness World Record in 2017 for the world’s longest fingernails. At the time, they measured 19 feet long and reportedly took 20 hours and more than two nail polish bottles to get a manicure.
“I get so many different types of reactions from growing my nails,” Ayanna said in the Guinness video. “It’s unbelievable. The majority are good. People are excited, they don’t know what to think. They don’t even know what to say cause it’s something you don’t see on the norm,” she continued with a chuckle.
The cut-off procedure was painless and seamless. Afterwards, Ayanna resumed activities she hadn’t done in years—like easily texting, hopping into the car and opening doors, according to Ripley’s.
Roomies, you might remember Ayanna from a 2012 episode of TLC’s ‘My Strange Addiction,’ in which she discussed her addiction to growing her toenails.
If you’re curious enough, you can check out the immortalized claws in person starting this Friday.
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