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Elizabeth Holmes “fake voice” has been one of much discussion, with former colleagues and professors of the Theranos founder claiming her deep, rough voice is not her real one.
Of course, the sheer fact of a woman having a deep voice is not what’s up to debate here, though many have pointed out the hypocrisy of women being insulted for vocal fry, and women also being insulted for having low voices. In Holmes’ case in particular, the confusion is over what Holmes’ intent might have been, if she was in fact faking her voice, and how much effort went into this apparent effort. To The Cut, Jillian O’Connor, an assistant professor at Columbia who studies the relationship between voice and perception, said, “This whole [Holmes] situation, the image manipulation, dressing like Steve Jobs, trying to sound a particular way — it sounds like an awful lot went into facade.”
O’Connor continued, “Some of the research we’ve worked on shows that when men and women deliberately lower their voices, it’s actually successful. They do sound more dominant. They do sound more likely to be someone who’s in a position of power.”
To Inside Edition, one of Holmes’ former professors at Stanford, Phyllis Gardner, remembered the young woman’s voice as much higher than what it is today. You can see her rendition of Holmes’ voice below.
Here’s a video that compares and contrast various versions of Holmes’ voice:
Elizabeth Holmes’ ‘Fake Voice’ vs. ‘Real Voice’: Listen to the Differences
To Inside Edition, Stanford professor Phyllis Gardner shared her impression of Holmes in class, saying that Holmes had a much higher voice prior to founding Theranos (though it’s worth keeping in mind that this time difference would have been months, not years, as Holmes dropped out of Stanford to work full-time at her company.) You can see Gardner’s impression of Holmes below.
What’s more, in the ABC podcast The Dropout, several anonymous colleagues went on record to say that Holmes would sometimes “[fall] out of character” with her voice and reveal her higher voice, most often when she was consuming alcohol.
According to The Cut, there are a number of videos of Holmes’ vocal variations on YouTube, but they have a tendency to be taken down within days of being put up.
Beyond the clips that are occasionally uploaded to YouTube (and most often taken down), it has proven difficult for many internet users to get what they want: proof of Holmes’ voice prior to her taking on the role (and persona) of the founder of Theranos, and what many believed to be was the next great inventor of humankind.
One Twitter user summed up the situation succinctly: If I were one of Elizabeth Holmes’ former classmates, I’d be digging through everything to try and find a recording of her real voice lol. Someone is gonna get rich. #TheInventor”
Here’s another Reddit video of an example in which Holmes’ voice appears to vary from a high to a low throughout an interview:
Twitter Users React to Elizabeth Holmes’ Voice After HBO’s ‘The Inventor’ Premieres
me: i need a raise
boss: no
me: *elizabeth holmes voice* i need a raise
boss: we’re promoting you to CEO here’s 850k a year plz don’t hurt me
A number of people have taken to Twitter to share their shock, awe, and downright confusion over the mystery surrounding Holmes’ voice.
here’s some footage they left out of the inventor HBO doc about how Elizabeth Holmes adopted her now-infamous proven-fake voice
A number of users pointed out how similar Holmes’ voice sounds to that of the character Romy in the famous movie, Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion. One user tweeted, “Everyone has described Elizabeth Holmes’ voice as a fake baritone — but wtf this just straight up Romy.”
Holmes has never provided an explanation for her voice, though it’s unclear if she was asked any direct questions about it prior to creating her new, private life with Evans in the wake of her indictment.
ME: Clean the kitchen please
BOYFRIEND: Maybe later
ME: *Elizabeth Holmes voice*
CLEAN THE KITCHEN PLEASE
[boyfriend grabs sponge and 409]
#TheInventor