They've become her trademark so why is Kylie Jenner always covering her lips?

They’ve caused quite the stir over the past year, and are responsible for placing the youngest Kardashian-Jenner under intense media (and social media) scrutiny.

In fact, they became so famous, they’ve inspired their own violent and idiotic, viral video challenge.

So why is Kylie Jenner always covering her lips in photos?

Kylie is a prolific Instagrammer, and if Snap Chatting was an Olympic sport, the race for gold would be a total white-wash.

Throughout the never-ending wave of selfies, this camera-coy pose is an extremely common occurrence.

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A photo posted by King Kylie (@kyliejenner) on Jan 2, 2015 at 7:09pm PST

  home.   A video posted by King Kylie (@kyliejenner) on Dec 7, 2015 at 2:55pm PST

???? A photo posted by King Kylie (@kyliejenner) on Nov 18, 2015 at 3:17pm PST

  A photo posted by Kylie Jenner Snapchats (@kylizzlesnapchats) on Dec 27, 2015 at 10:10pm PST

A video posted by Kylie Jenner Snapchats (@kylizzlesnapchats) on Dec 13, 2015 at 12:43pm PST

But according to an interview with Elle UK, Kylie’s pose has nothing to do with looking sexy, or drawing attention to her mouth. Quite the opposite.

“I was so insecure about my lips,” she told the magazine. “Even now I always post photos where my finger is always in front of my mouth…it’s a habit. I would always cover my lips.”

Click through for another gallery of celebs’ selfie poses…

Sadly, Kylie’s habit wasn’t confined to her social media presence, but impacted her life offline too. “I couldn’t even talk to people. Or guys,” she admitted. ‘Like, [I’d be thinking]: ‘I know you’re looking at my lips, but you so don’t want to kiss me right now.'”

Her enhancement was a big decision. One that was (of course) documented on the family’s reality television show. 

Here’s hoping Kylie’s growing confidence allows her to ditch her old, self-conscious habit.