Diana Armstrong's record fingernails are an expression of love
Diana Armstrong says carrying nine pounds of fingernails has given her strong the biceps. Photo by Azhae’la Hanson
By Azhae’la Hanson, Reporter
In March, the Guinness Book of World Records called 63-year-old Diana Armstrong to inquire about the possibility that she had broken a world record.
She hung up.
“I thought it was a prank call”, Armstrong said. “I told my daughter and she told me to call them back.”
Her daughter Raina Armstrong knew that it was very likely her mother did break a world record. In fact, most of her family suspected it years prior to the call from Guinness Book.
“We would always look at the people who held the records,” Raina said. “And just by looking at my mom's nails, we knew her’s were longer.”
When a Guinness Book representative paid a visit to Diana's Northside residence, it was confirmed that she had broken the world record for the longest nails in the world with the combined length of 42 feet, almost doubling the length of the previous record holder, Lee Redmond.
Although she now holds the record, Armstrong was not chasing the fame as most who end up in the book do. She held a world record and until the news broke last spring, she was also holding a secret heavier than her nine pounds of nails – grief.
“My mom always had naturally pretty nails.” Raina said. “And my mom bonded with her kids over doing her nails, especially my sister.”
In 1996 after a night of manicures with her 16-year-old daughter Latisha Armstrong, Diane woke up the next morning to the news that her daughter had unexpectedly passed in her sleep.
For 26 years, Diana has held on to the memory of Latisha that she memorialized into 42 feet of keratin. But no one knew why, not even her family.
“I didn’t tell my family why I grew my nails until the news broke about my world record,” Diana said. “It hurt too much.”
On top of dealing with the loss of her daughter, in the years prior to being in contact with Guinness, the attention Armstrong received would make her unlikely to leave her home often. She was cautious about how people might react to her appearance. People seemed to see her as a spectacle and invade her privacy. They did not treat her as a person.
“I’ve been called disgusting.” Armstrong said.
“I’m the lady with the nails to a lot of people, but with my grandkids I’m just grandma.”
And for years, the Armstrongs would only eat takeout, order things to their residence, and avoid being in public for a long period of time, even going as far as to creating meeting points for interviews because she is wary of people other than family finding her location.
“We used to be very defensive about interacting with people in public,” Raina Armstrong said.
Diana had heard it all when it came to others opinions on her choice to grow her nails. And she was content in feeling like she had to remain cautious in a world of spectators.
That was until her young granddaughter started to change her mind.
“She sees me for who I am,” Armstrong said. “Just grandma.”
When Diana was confronted in public by a keen observer, her granddaughter stood up and said “They love you, let them take a picture.”
At that moment, Diana felt as if it was a message from God, and a message from her late daughter, Latisha, to love her nails and to not be ashamed.
“My daughter loved to do my nails, I think she’d be very proud of what they’ve come to be.” she said.
In addition to all the publicity, the support she now has from her family is slowly evolving from a painful secret to a proud display for all of the Armstrongs. It is becoming easier to speak about the loss and shift Diana Armstrong’s perspective of her nails from an expression of grief, to an expression of love.
Armstrong is no typical grandma, but enjoys anything a typical grandma would.
She throws down in the kitchen and her favorite thing to cook is buffalo fish and spaghetti.
She loves her grandkids, who take between two and four days to paint her nails their favorite colors, and she cleans up after them, using her feet to sweep the mess her grandkids leave behind
She never says goodbye, but “toodle oo,” because goodbye is too permanent. Her signature phrase is, “Mind your business.”
And you should, too, if you have nothing nice to say. But she welcomes kind words.