Photo: Orange News

A US man finally tracked down his birth mother - to find out she is a world-famous bearded lady.

Richard Lorenc, 33, has been reunited with Vivian Wheeler, 62, who once worked in a circus sideshow.

After six weeks of investigating, the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services put him in touch with his mother.

Wheeler inherited her mother's condition of hypertrichosis, also known as werewolf syndrome, which manifests itself through the growth of excessive facial hair from a very early age.

She was also born a hermaphrodite, with both male and female reproductive organs.

Upon seeing her baby's facial fuzz and genitalia, her mother - who wanted a girl - instructed the doctor to remove the male parts. Meanwhile, her father - despite being embarrassed by his daughter's condition - sent her to work in sideshows as a 5-year-old girl and earning up to $1,000 a month to be sent home to her family.

Eventually she was recognised by The Guinness Book of Records for having the longest beard ever grown by a female: nearly 28 centimeters.

Her son Richard was taken from Vivian when he was 3 and was adopted at age 7.

Wheeler is now considering leaving her home in Bakersfield, California to live closer to her son in Kansas.

Orange News