With the longest hair in her beard measuring 11 inches - 27.9 cm., Vivian Wheeler of Illinois is blessed with having the longest beard for a female. Her father insisted she start shaving at the age of 7, but since 1993 Vivian Wheeler has not, letting her beard grow. She said "I am in the Guinness Book of World Records and people tell me I am famous, that it's a history book but it doesn't comprehend in my head. I hope it never does because I don't want to be that kind of person that they think I could be or should be."
Wheeler has a medical condition called hermaphroditism. Meaning, she is 50 percent male and 50 percent female. She said she was born with facial hair but when she was about five that facial hair began to grow darker. When that happened, her father couldn't even look at her and sold her into a life on the road with the Ringling Brother's Circus. It's a life she said may seem bizarre to others but one that has a special purpose.