Twitter
Advertisement

Gender benders of Hollywood

A look at six transgender celebs in Hollywood

Latest News
article-main
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

What intrigues us most about transgender individuals is their transition. Their inner struggles, traumatic experiences, striving for acceptance is also what often piques our curiosity. And though transgender people exist across the spectrum, it's the celebrity ones that get people's tongues wagging. With Bruce Jenner currently being in the spotlight, we decided do a roundup of some transgender celebrities in Hollywood.

Bruce Jenner
CLAIM TO FAME
: Olympic gold medalist and being featured on Keeping Up With The Kardashians
Though he's an Olympic gold medallist, Bruce Jenner is better known for being step-dad to the Kardashian siblings. Also, he's the father of models Kylie and Kendall Jenner. In the past one-and-a-half years, Bruce has been garnering attention for his increasingly feminine appearance and hence, visible transformation into a woman, though he hasn't publicly confirmed it. His family has been supportive of him. Post Bruce's separation from Kris Jenner in 2013 (they got divorced in 2014), he got a laryngeal shave to flatten out his Adam's Apple. Subsequently, he began sporting jewellery, fuller lips, wearing red nail polish, breasts and long hair. The 65-year-old is expected to have given a no holds-barred account of his transition into a woman in an TV interview to American TV journalist, Diane Sawyer. A promotional clip for this anticipated exclusive interview has the former Olympic athlete reveal: 'My whole life has been getting ready for this.' The interview will air on US television on April 24.

Laverne Cox
CLAIM TO FAME
: Playing Sophia Burset in Orange Is The New Black; The first openly transgender person to appear on the cover of Time magazine
Cox is a critically acclaimed actress best known for her role of an incarcerated African American transgender woman on the hit American TV show, Orange Is The New Black. The 30-year-old actress went through a difficult childhood being bullied because she felt she was a girl, and attempted suicide at the age of 11. In 2014, she became the first openly transgender person to be nominated for an Primetime Emmy award for acting. She has won numerous accolades for her social activism. In April 2014, Cox was honored by GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) for her work as an advocate for the transgender community. Cox was refuses to talk about her gender reassingment surgery saying, "The preoccupation with transition and surgery objectifies trans people. And then we don't get to really deal with the real lived experiences."

Lana Wachowski
CLAIM TO FAME
: Formerly known as Laurence Wachowski, one-half of the Wachowski Brothers of The Matrix fame
The Wachowski Brothers are best known for their movies The Matrix trilogy besides V for Vendetta and Cloud Atlas. Born as a male, Lana, as a child identified with girls and struggled with depression and suicide. Buzz around her transition have been spreading since the early 2000s, but neither sibling confirmed anything. In 2012, the 49-year-old movie maker made her public appearance post-transitioning in a video discussing the creative process behind the movie Cloud Atlas. Lana is also an activist for the LGBT community.

Chaz Bono
CLAIM TO FAME
: Musician and son of veteran songstress Cher
Chaz Bono a transgender man was born as a female Chastity Sun Bono, knew from an early age that he was in the wrong body. The 46-year-old has been an LGBT activist for quite some time. Post 2008, Chaz underwent female-to-male gender reassignment process by taking testosterone, surgically removing breasts, etc. Mother Cher admitted to finding it hard to understand Chaz. “I didn’t have a hard time in the beginning when Chaz came to see me and told me, ‘This is what I want to do.’ I said, ‘Well, if you’re miserable, then you’ve got to do it.’ But then as it was starting to happen, you know, it’s a strange change for a mother to go through."

Thomas Beatie
CLAIM TO FAME
: Shot to fame as 'The Pregnant Man' in 2007
You might not know his name, but looking at his pictures might ring a bell as he was splashed across online and in print. Thomas Beatie born as a female is a trans man who underwent a gender reassignment surgery in 2002, and was nicknamed 'The Pregnant Man' in 2007, after becoming pregnant via artificial insemination. As his wife was infertile, Beatie decided to undergo pregnancy and gave birth to three children. Unfortunately, the couple separated in 2012. The 41-year-old is also an LGBT rights activist.

Lea T
CLAIM TO FAME
: The first transgender supermodel to front a global cosmetics brand
Lea Cerezo, better known as Lea T, was born as a male Leandro Cerezo. In spite of being aware that she was different from other children during her childhood, Lea didn't give undergoing a gender reassignment surgery serious thought till her early 20s. It was Givency head designer Riccardo Tisci who encouraged his muse to embrace who she really was. In 2011, she publicly spoke about her inner struggle on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Lea underwent hormone replacement therapy in 2008 and a full reassignment surgery in 2012.

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement