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Meet Julia Günthel, the female contortionist widely considered to be the most ‘bendiest’ woman alive.
Günthel, who goes by the stage name “Zlata,” was born in Kazakhstan. She discovered her uncanny talent when a preschool teacher complimented her flexibility. She was four years old.
By the time she was 8, she was already enrolling in a circus school, where she first discovered contortionism.
“As soon as I started doing it I was addicted, and I knew this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”
Now based in Germany, the Russian beauty has been making a living off contortionism since she was ten.
Today, Zlata travels the world doing performance art, modeling, onstage performances, posing for magazines, as well as some very specific stock photography.
During a Discovery Channel segment, Zlata was put through an MRI machine in a back-breaking position, where doctors discovered something very unusual that allowed the 31-year-old’s body to bend in incredible angles. No, it’s not that she does not have a spine.
It turns out that Zlata’s ligaments are as elastic as a baby’s.
Now we know why she can turn into a human pretzel without a sweat, and come out looking like this:
A two-time world record holder, Zlata has only one answer to an obvious and oft-asked question, “No, it doesn’t hurt me”.