We have been lied to. As Hello Kitty is about to celebrate her 40th anniversary, Sanrio revealed some shocking news: She is not a cat. What?!?

Apparently, the adorable girly Japanese mascot with Kitty in her name that adorns everything from young girl’s bedrooms to Avril Lavigne music videos is not in fact, feline.

Here, Hello Kitty developed a mouth to express her shock.

This revelation about Hello Kitty, whose real name is Kitty White, happened when Christine R. Yano, an anthropologist who is curating for an upcoming Hello Kitty retrospective at the Japanese American National Museum, was corrected by Sanrio when she called the cute icon a cat.

“I was corrected — very firmly," Yano revealed."That's one correction Sanrio made for my script for the show. Hello Kitty is not a cat. She's a cartoon character. She is a little girl. She is a friend. But she is not a cat. She's never depicted on all fours. She walks and sits like a two-legged creature. She does have a pet cat of her own, however, and it's called Charmmy Kitty."

I'm still not buying it, and frankly, I'm questioning everything in life. Next you’re going to tell me Mickey Mouse is a giraffe, and I don’t think I could handle it. Let’s look at this image of Hello Kitty.

Ignore those whiskers, cat ears and tail everyone because she is a little girl, remember. And now let’s look at this image of Charmmy Kitty.

They are nearly identical with matching bows! With this evidence... we are stumped. Is she not a cat because she does awesome things like DJ-ing and wearing bows that Sanrio believes cats wouldn’t do? Because we have proof real cats can do that too.

It’s okay to be feline. Embrace it. Don’t feel cat-shamed, there are so many cool cats. And if Hello Kitty had a mouth I’m sure she would agree.

I leave you with images of our favorite cats who aren’t afraid to declare their feline-ness.