16 Celebrity Palm Readings, Annotated and Explained
Between HD cameras and ultrahigh-resolution photography, modern audiences have unprecedented access to the pores, wrinkles, and mascara clumps of stars. Today we zoom in on a more innocent body part that is, according to some, even more revealing: the palms of celebrities’ hands. From Bynes’s troubled head line to Kanye’s ambitious index finger to Michelle Obama’s divided mind, New York palmist Mark Seltman explained it all to the Cut.
The author of Real Palmistry, Seltman believes hand reading is both an art and a science. He has examined tens of thousands of hands, including those of Martha Stewart and Katie Couric. A proper hand reading requires IRL interaction, he says, for tactile features like flexibility and textures, kinetic features like gesture and movement, and dialogue. Shape, size, lines, and proportions play an important part, too, so Seltman zoomed in on the waving dominant hands of seventeen notable figures, from politicians to musicians to royalty. Click to read his analysis, zoom in on details, and compare their hands to your own.
For more Seltman, check out his blog for palmistry explainers and real stories about the people he’s met in 35 years of hand analysis — all illustrated with palm pictures, of course.
Rihanna: The Romantic Rebel "The ring finger is long, as long as the middle finger, which is unusual. It makes her extremely charismatic and...
Rihanna: The Romantic Rebel "The ring finger is long, as long as the middle finger, which is unusual. It makes her extremely charismatic and attractive, what is called an Apollonian style and appearance," Seltman says. "Those people also tend to be lucky." Separated head and life lines suggest rebelliousness and independence, while straight fingers suggest a direct manner.
But she is also romantic: "If you look at her heart line, it goes up to her index finger. People with that gently upward-sweeping heart line tend to see people as they'd like them to be, instead of how they really are." Paired with her independent nature, "she would need to stay away from jealous, possessive, or controlling partners." When Rihanna has emotional problems, she rationalizes, compartmentalizes, and analyzes her feelings, a line connecting her heart and head lines suggests.
Amanda Bynes: Crisis at Age 28 Bynes's head line "looks island-y," about one and a half inches from the thumb — the area of the hand as...
Amanda Bynes: Crisis at Age 28 Bynes's head line "looks island-y," about one and a half inches from the thumb — the area of the hand associated with her life from ages 28 to 30, suggesting obstacles. The 27-year-old's recent distress "may continue for some time," although "you'd need to look at her hand with a magnifying glass to get what's really going on." Bynes also has a cramp line between her heart and head lines, symbolizing an intense or difficult mother relationship.
"She may be hard on herself," Seltman continues, pointing to Bynes's middle finger, which is the finger of Saturn. It deals with discipline and structure. "If you look at the middle finger, under the ring, there are lines crisscrossing. She's her own worst critic." But Bynes's head and life lines are connected, which suggests that other people's opinions of her are also important. She has many fine lines on the percussion of her palm, indicating nervous energy. "She should stay away from drugs and not drink much caffeine," Seltman concludes.
Barack Obama: Seizing Fate Barack Obama is an Intuitive Type, with rectangular palms and short fingers. He's enthusiastic, spirited, passion...
Barack Obama: Seizing Fate Barack Obama is an Intuitive Type, with rectangular palms and short fingers. He's enthusiastic, spirited, passionate, and pays attention to the big picture. (Bill Clinton was an intuitive type, too.) Seltman points us to a detailed analysis of Obama's hand on his blog; by phone, he emphasizes Obama's powerful fate line: "The fate line goes straight up from the very center of the hand up to his middle finger. That's somebody who's dedicated, nose to the grindstone. He knows what he wants."
Angelina Jolie: The Conflicted Self "I see her as an Intuitive Type, but her palms are narrow, so it's a combination of intuitive and feelin...
Angelina Jolie: The Conflicted Self "I see her as an Intuitive Type, but her palms are narrow, so it's a combination of intuitive and feeling," Seltman says. "When you look closely, her hand is ambiguous. She doesn't have an easy time making up her head or her heart; both lines split and go in opposite directions at their ends." She has a lot of inner conflict — between creativity and pragmatism, impulse and fastidiousness. "I think she's not acquisitive; her bottom phalange on the little finger is the smallest one." Though she's holding her thumb up, it's set very low. "She's a freedom fighter; she loves a good cause; she's got a soft spot for the underdog."
Justin Bieber: Hiding His Feelings Bieber's palm is the Practical Type, square palm and short fingers. "There's not a lot going on the hand ...
Justin Bieber: Hiding His Feelings Bieber's palm is the Practical Type, square palm and short fingers. "There's not a lot going on the hand itself," Seltman notes. "The heart line is short and dips down around the index finger. That's a person who is private about his feelings and may have difficulty expressing them." He may also have "a strong need for order, things in their designated places, because the knots are developed in the second joint." The second joint is about physical order; the first joint is about mental order.
Michelle Obama: Two Minds "She's a Feeling Type, rectangular palm and longer fingers," Seltman says. But her fingers are conical at the...
Michelle Obama: Two Minds "She's a Feeling Type, rectangular palm and longer fingers," Seltman says. But her fingers are conical at the tip, which indicates intuition. "Michelle has highly connected head and life lines — she cares a lot about what people think, whereas Barack couldn't care less. But there's also a doubling of her head line," two head lines running parallel, one disconnected from the life line. "It's hard to tell what's going on from this picture, but it could be she's taken a second, wholly different manner of thinking than she had initially," perhaps owing to the pressures of public life.
Kate Middleton: Sensitive But Ambitious Kate is "very different from her partner," says Seltman. "Her hand is the Feeling Typ...
Kate Middleton: Sensitive But Ambitious Kate is "very different from her partner," says Seltman. "Her hand is the Feeling Type, long palm and long fingers." Feeling types are very sensitive and may avoid emotional confrontation. "Her pinky finger is set lower than the other fingers. Even though it's a strong, healthy pinky finger, there may be something in her early childhood that made it hard for her to put herself out there, to express herself." Nonetheless, a long index finger suggests she's very ambitious. Her head line dips down to the heel of her hand, indicating an "ability to combine creativity and objectivity." Paired with her charismatic long ring finger and known sense of style, "she also could be successful in the design or fashion world."
Prince William: Driven by Duty "The hand shape is way practical. I know from his astrological charts that he has a lot of Gemini going on, b...
Prince William: Driven by Duty "The hand shape is way practical. I know from his astrological charts that he has a lot of Gemini going on, but from his hand, he's like a Taurus — reliable, dependable, pragmatic, with a very square palm and short fingers," Seltman says. "The fate line goes straight up to the index finger. That's the same, duty, a person working hard to fulfill a destiny he already knows." The fate line connects at the bottom to the life line, reinforcing the connection between William's destiny and his family.
Lindsay Lohan: Always Acting Finding a clear shot of LiLo's hand was hard; she has a tendency to tilt it backwards, with the fingers — particular...
Lindsay Lohan: Always Acting Finding a clear shot of LiLo's hand was hard; she has a tendency to tilt it backwards, with the fingers — particularly the pinky — dropped furthest back. But Seltman says hand posture is meaningful, too, though he cautions that it is harder to diagnose from pictures. Nonetheless, "I'm sure she has relationship issues. The pinky finger is both held back and curved. She has a real conflict between being herself and being who she thinks others want and need her to be. She's always acting; even she may not know when she's acting and when she is not." Separated head and life lines suggest rebelliousness. In the final analysis, she’ll do whatever she wants to do, regardless of what others think.
Pope Francis: Ambitious Ascetic Like Angelina and the Obamas, Pope Francis is an Intuitive Type. "He's very loyal, based on the lines on the...
Pope Francis: Ambitious Ascetic Like Angelina and the Obamas, Pope Francis is an Intuitive Type. "He's very loyal, based on the lines on the ball of his thumb. But the ball of the thumb is also unusually small. If you look at your own hand in that position, usually the ball will really bulge. A person with a well-developed ball loves to eat, have sex, indulge. But his is not at all developed; he's an ascetic." His imperviousness to indulgence may also make him more practical. "The ring and index finger lean toward the middle finger, which indicates a strong sense of responsibility and obligation. That's what rules his life."
Tom Cruise: Problems With Intimacy A strong pinky means he's a good communicator, "but he has trouble verbalizing his feelings because the h...
Tom Cruise: Problems With Intimacy A strong pinky means he's a good communicator, "but he has trouble verbalizing his feelings because the heart line is short and dips down. He rationalizes, compartmentalizes, and analyzes his feelings. Note the absence of lines on the ball of his thumb: He has a hard time with intimacy, and with trusting people. He may be friendly and social, but real intimacy is challenging." As for his mind, "the head line dips down almost to the bottom of the hand, which means he has an active imagination and rich fantasy life. He may have a highly developed intuition."
Megan Fox: Calculating Megan Fox's famously unusual thumbs (which she calls "weird" and "really fat") are clubbed, ...
Megan Fox: Calculating Megan Fox's famously unusual thumbs (which she calls "weird" and "really fat") are clubbed, a shape early palmists called the "murderer's thumb" because it symbolizes an inflexible nature that can turn into explosive rage. "Broad, short shapes tend to be obstinate," Seltman says. In this particular case, "The top phalange — the 'will' phalange — is much shorter than the logic phalange, which means there is always thought and logic before her actions." This would feed the theory that Fox's audacious public statements are not the product of impulse, but calculation. Her determination is paired with great ambition — her index finger is very long. "She probably makes no action without thinking about it a lot. Once she sets her mind to something, it would take quite a bit of reasoning and logic to convince her otherwise."
For more on the "murderer's thumb," read Seltman's blog post about some he has encountered — one of which belonged to an actual murderer, but many more not.
James Franco: Charming Connoisseur "He has a really long ring finger, like Rihanna, which means he has natural charisma and likability. The ...
James Franco: Charming Connoisseur "He has a really long ring finger, like Rihanna, which means he has natural charisma and likability. The shape of his hand is the Thinking Type — long fingers, square palm." His life line "swings out almost to the middle of his palm," suggesting a powerful "love and appreciation of the arts, nature, animals, music." The middle phalange in his pinky is "small, but he also has a developed second knot," which means he likes order in his surroundings, but has trouble maintaining it.
Kanye West: Ambitious Lover Kanye West palm pictures are hard to find. "Maybe some celebrities are afraid of being analyzed when they wave,&...
Kanye West: Ambitious Lover Kanye West palm pictures are hard to find. "Maybe some celebrities are afraid of being analyzed when they wave," Seltman chuckles. Nonetheless, Kanye's long index finger suggests ambition. His broad, upsweeping heart line suggests a man taken by romance. "But his lines are very clear. This is a man who is deliberate. He knows who he is and what he wants."
Kim Kardashian: Fake Tan Fingers "I think she's vain," Seltman says. "When you zoom in, she's got tanning stuff on her fingers!&qu...
Kim Kardashian: Fake Tan Fingers "I think she's vain," Seltman says. "When you zoom in, she's got tanning stuff on her fingers!" Sometimes palmistry requires attention to more than just shapes and lines. The hand posture, with her finger and thumb together and forward, suggest she's feeling unsure of herself on the red carpet pictured here. "The curve in her pinky finger says she's not a big fan of confrontation, even though she's had her share of it."
Anthony Weiner: Won't Quit Weiner's mayoral dream may be over, but he won't give up in his quest for redemption, Seltman says. The percussion edg...
Anthony Weiner: Won't Quit Weiner's mayoral dream may be over, but he won't give up in his quest for redemption, Seltman says. The percussion edge of his hand (the outside edge below the pinky, just above the wrist) bows out, meaning "giving up is not in his vocabulary." The hand shape — short fingers and a square palm — suggests practicality. "His pinky is very strong, perhaps dominant in his hand. He's an excellent communicator and very clever. His head line and life line are very connected, so he's probably controlling and at the same time very much wants our approval.” But his heart line is short; he’s private about his feelings." Seltman acknowledges the irony: "He created the situation he was most afraid of, being criticized and having shame about his private feelings."
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