Lea ti before and after. Valentina Sampaio, Andrea Pejic and more: stories of famous transgender women
Bruce Jenner is a former athlete who won a gold medal in the decathlon at the Montreal Olympics. Despite the fact that after that Jenner's sports career began to decline, he became an American star. A star with a big secret. Only in 2015, in an interview with Vanity Fair, Jenner admitted that when he went out as an Olympic champion, he was wearing tights and a bra under his clothes. In general, Bruce began to paint and change into a girl at the age of 8. However, Bruce, in his own words, was not homosexual. In 1991, he married Chris Kardashian, the head of the famous reality TV family. For Bruce, this was the third marriage. Chris and Bruce have daughters Kendall and Kylie Jenner.
Chris knew about the strangeness of her husband, who continued to keep a secret until breaking up with her in 2013. At the same time, Bruce began hormone therapy to prepare for the final sex change operation. According to Jenner himself, he considered suicide until he mustered up the courage to finally become a woman named Caitlin: “I have always loved women and have never felt attracted to men, despite my feminine essence. All three of my marriages have been sincere, and I love all six of my children."
Andrea Pejic
An androgynous fashion model from Yugoslavia (the family later moved to Australia) Andrei Pejic openly declared his bisexuality, but claimed that he was not going to change sex. Andrey did not keep his word: in February 2015, after several operations and therapy, Andrey finally became Andrea.
Andrea appeared in one of the issues of American Vogue, becoming the first transgender model on the pages of this publication. Note that Andrea did not change outwardly: Pejic looked very feminine from childhood and cultivated it.
Ines Rau
Frenchwoman Rau - Andrea Pejic's best friend - posed for Playboy, and later even became the girl of the month of this publication. Ines admits that as a child she dreamed of becoming one of the Disney princesses and now she is flattered when she is compared to Cinderella. At the age of 15, the model underwent a sex change operation and moved to New York, where she built a successful modeling career.
Dana International
The winner of Eurovision-98 is the famous Israeli transsexual singer. At the time of her victory, Dana had been Sharon Cohen's girlfriend for five years. Before sex correction, the singer wore man's name Yaron. Yaron began to fall in love with boys at school, about which he told his older sister, with whom he had a close relationship. The news about the decision to change sex did not shock either the sister or the mother of Yaron, who also could not help but notice the features of her son.
The Wachowski Sisters
As a child, Larry Wachowski (that was the name of Lana before the sex change) liked to spend time in silence with a book, and when he did go out, he wanted to play with the girls, and not drive the ball. These desires were reflected in appearance young Larry: he liked the long hair that he wore before entering a Catholic school, and the skirts that he wore alone at home. In college, Larry tossed between his own desires and the condemnation of society. Future Lana was saved by art and the support of her relatives: together with her brother Eddie, he drew comics. Then the idea of "The Matrix" appeared - a film about the world, which shows the fragility of the individual, under the pressure of society.
After the premiere of The Matrix, Larry began seeing a therapist and one day spoke to his family about the possibility of gender transition. In 2003, when the family accepted his decision, Larry embarked on a series of gender reassignment surgeries, changed his name, and divorced his wife, Thea Bloom.
In 2016, the youngest of the Wachowski brothers also came out as a woman. Wachowski added that family, wife and friends fully support his decision.
Sona Avedyan
The stern marine Matthew Avedyan, from the very sight of which he shuddered, dreamed all his life ... no, not about military glory. The guy wanted to be a woman.
Matthew loved "female things" from childhood: he tried on his mother's clothes until she caught him. From that moment on, Matthew became afraid of his true desires and began to do everything so as not to be different from others. In addition, Avedyan grew up in an extremely religious family.
Matthew was actively involved in sports, and then went to the Marine Corps. After some time he got married and became a father. However, he soon realized that he was exhausted. He could no longer meet the demands of others, for the first time in his life he wanted to just be himself.
Matthew started taking hormones, got breast implants, got full body laser hair removal, and eventually went through sex reassignment surgery. Now the beauty's name is Sona, she is a comedian, lecturer and activist advocating for transgender people.
Valentine de Hing
The Dutch Valentin made the decision to change sex at the age of 8, at the same time the future girl became the heroine of a documentary film, the shooting of which lasted 9 years. All this time Valentine was in the process of transformation. The project glorified de Hing in her native Holland, and Valentin herself, becoming a woman, began modeling career.
Angela Pons
Angela Pons became the first transgender woman to enter a European beauty pageant. In 2014, Angela finally turned into a girl and after only a few months she became a contestant in Spain's Miss World Beauty Pageant, but did not receive the title of the most beautiful girl in Spain. This does not upset the beauty - she already considers herself lucky: “When my parents asked what toys I like, I always answered:“ Barbie. When I was 11 years old, I began to turn into a girl. I just couldn't fight who I am. Now I want to show young people what it means to be transgender by my own example.”
Laverne Cox
Orange Is the New Black star Laverne Cox used to come to school in a skirt and make-up while still a boy. This angered everyone: teachers, parents and classmates. But Cox continued to look in accordance with her inner world and, having moved to New York, underwent a sex change operation. Her other dream was to become an actress. At first, she was offered the roles of prostitutes and perverts - the only way, according to many screenwriters, transgender people can manifest themselves. And in 2013, Cox was invited to the sitcom Orange Is the New Black, and this project became a real success for the actress.
Cox plans to make a film that will tell the truth about transgender people. After all, it's all about the picture: we are used to seeing them as desperate victims of violence or the sex industry, and Laverne knows that among them there are excellent doctors, nurses, lawyers, mothers and sisters who, like everyone else, want love, understanding and protection.
Hari Nef
Nari is not only a model. The girl studied drama and theater at Columbia University, and also collaborated as an author with the magazines Vice, Dazed & Confused, Adult and others.
Gina Rosero
Gina hid the fact that she was transgender for 10 years. At the age of 17, Rosero left the Philippines and went to the United States, where she received a new name and passport, as well as new job and friends who had no idea about her past. After becoming a popular model, Gina decided to tell her story, hoping to inspire and cheer up transgender people around the world who did not find support from family and friends.
Carmen Carrera
Carmen was born a man named Christopher Roman, and became famous as an actress, model, reality TV star and burlesque artist. Carmen began her career as an artist while still being a physiologically male. For example, Carmen posed naked for the famous photographer David LaChapelle, showing both the female breasts and the penis.
Lia T
Brazilian Lia T She began her career in the fashion world as a stylist's assistant when Leah was still a teenager. Later, Leandro himself began to pose as an androgyne. Realizing his desire to be a girl, he began to drink hormones, and in March 2011, the operation for the final sex change took place.
On Monday, the public was shocked to the core when on the cover of the July issue of Vanity Fair, formerly known as Bruce Jenner is the father of six children and stepfather of Kim Kardashian. The 65-year-old former Olympian immediately became a style icon when he appeared in a cream corset in the lens of the famous photographer Annie Leibovitz.
However, maybe Jenner is on this moment the most famous transgender in the world, but she is not the only and far from the first who made a splash in the fashion industry. We bring to your attention a dozen other transgender models who, with their appearance, have changed the concepts and boundaries of beauty.
(Total 10 photos)
1. Nari Nef, 22 years old.
Nef recently made a splash when major modeling agency IMG announced that she had signed a contract with her. In May, Nef graduated from Columbia University with a degree in drama and theater. The transgender girl has already proven herself as a talented writer - she has written several articles for Vice, Dazed & Confused, Adult magazines and others. She also made her debut on the catwalk in February when she took part in shows for brands such as Hood By Air, VFiles, Degen and Adam Selman.
2. Valentin de Hin, 25 years old.
Valentin has already been photographed by renowned photographers such as Patrick Demarchelier for Love and Vogue Italia magazines and has walked the runway for Martin Margiela and Commes des Garcons. A native of Amsterdam, she became famous when she became the heroine of a Dutch documentary in which she starred from 8 to 17 years old, when, in fact, she decided to change her gender.
3. Leah Tee, 34 years old.
This Brazilian, who grew up in Italy, was discovered for the fashion world by Riccardo Tisci, then working for Givenchy. Since then, she has become one of the most visible transgenders in the fashion industry. Now Tisci's muse and one of Italy's top models, she was recently named one of the "12 Women Who Changed Italian Fashion" by Forbes magazine. At the moment, the girl has become the face of an advertising campaign for Redken hair care products.
4. Andrea Pejic, 23 years old.
The 17-year-old Australian beauty, who once worked at McDonalds, became an instant sensation when the world media gave her the title of androgynous model. Since then, she has walked for world-class designers from Marc Jacobs to Jean-Paul Gaultier, has appeared on the cover of acclaimed magazines such as New York, Dazed & Confused and Oyster, and was one of the first openly transgender models to work for Vogue. Now she is officially recognized as a woman - last year she underwent the last sex change operation. Andrea is currently filming a documentary about her reincarnation.
5. Ines-Loan Rau, 25 years old.
Pejic's best friend Rau has already posed for such giants as Oyster and Playboy, and also took part in a sexy photo shoot with Tyson Beckford. Now the New Yorker is writing a book about her transformation in between photo shoots.
6. Ariske Wanzer.
She became famous for her open letter addressed to the star of the show "Keeping up with the Kardashians" Kendall Jenner, in which she spoke negatively about her. “I think fashion is very unreliable,” says Ariske. - People don't care. If something is not fashionable now, then it is not interesting for people. And they often say things like, “We already have a transgender person. We already have a black girl.” The model is the face of Kenneth Cole and managed to take part in fashion shows of the world famous brand Topshop.
7. Gina Rosero, 32 years old.
This Filipina has worked as a swimwear model for 12 years. And only in 2014 it became known that she was transgender. She founded Gender Proud, an organization that advocates for the rights of all transgender people in the world.
8. Aidian Dowling, 27
The only man (meaning former woman, and now a man) on our list. Dowling became known as the first transgender person to be voted by Men's Health readers to be the next cover star. He later copied the famous nude pose from Adam Levine for Cosmo UK. The married 27-year-old Dowling also appeared on the cover of Ellen magazine and was interviewed about his gender transition.
9. Carmen Carrera, 30 years old.
Carrera first appeared in the Drag Race drag contest, and got into the fashion world thanks to W magazine. Appearing on TLC and ABC, Carrera became an activist for transgender people. She was photographed by such famous photographers as David LaChapelle.
10. Isis King.
Another reality TV veteran. This girl was noticed by Tyra Banks when she posed in the background for another participant, and invited her to take part in the show "America's Next Top Model". The following season, the girl admitted that she was transgender. She has since appeared in magazines such as Seventeen, Out and Candy.
Often, such unusual persons as Andrey Pejic or Lia T get into the models. If you can say for sure about Andrei that he is a man, at least purely biologically, then you cannot say the same about Leah. The fact is that T is a transsexual. Every morning she wakes up with a body that combines two completely opposite organs. But Leah is waiting for an operation that will finally make a woman out of her.
When you start taking hormones, your heart starts to weaken (cries). At that moment, I felt disappointed in my life. I walked down the street and people laughed at me.Going through hormone therapy is very difficult. After all, this is not a joke - your body begins to change, and very quickly. Skin changes, cheekbones grow. Hair grows faster and hips become wider. What I like the most is the smell of my body after hormone therapy. It is much more subtle and pleasant.
It is very strange for me to see both breasts and penis on my body at the same time. I am extremely nervous about the operation. I'm so scared. I'm sure it will hurt me a lot
Yes, they laughed at Leah in the street. And Ricardo Tisci (Creative Director of Givenchy) admired her:
She has always been super-feminine: fragile and very aristocratic. She is part of our family.
Naturally, it was after meeting him that Leah decided to start changing. Perhaps Ricardo gave Tee confidence.
I met Ricardo Tisci who just graduated from Central St Martins. Gradually we became friends. He once encouraged me to wear heels to a party. We went shopping looking for these shemale shoes and bleached my brows.
Leah is not shy about her past, present and future. When Tisci suggested that she not reveal her secret, Leah resolutely said no.
-Are you sure? After all, I will have to talk a lot about the new campaign, so I need to know what I should talk about you. If you want, I will say that you are a girl.- No no and one more time no. The first thing you will say about me is that I am transgender. Because this is the most important thing.
Vogue writes that Lia is the sensation of the fall of 2010 and the new opening of the Women agency. Her beauty is attractive, especially for the Givenchy house, Ricardo emphasizes. After all, the style of the brand is built on the verge of masculinity and femininity. It all started with a smart little boy, Leonardo, who was born in the family of a famous football player and a devout Catholic.
I so hoped I was gay! the model said. “Because it would be less painful for my family. But, unfortunately, I was never able to accept my male body. It would be much easier if I was a straight guy, had a girlfriend, a family, daughters, got married… led what is called a “normal life.” But this is impossible, because something in your brain tells you that you were born in the wrong body.
But her parents took the news much more favorably than Leah expected.
I thought it would be a huge shock for them. But my father surprised me, because he took everything very naturally, ”recalls Lia. - He told me: "Regardless of who you are - a guy, a woman, or want to be a dog, I will love you the way you want to be."
After Leah's participation in the Alexandre Herchcovitch show in São Paulo, her father said: "Now I can die with peace of mind." However, you don't have to die. And although Leah is already 28 years old, she is still on her way to fame. Tee says she doesn't know what her future will be. Perhaps on the catwalk or in the atelier, or at home, in Brazil. However, one thing is clear for sure: Leah helps people like her.
Surely other transgender people found themselves in the same situation as me, says the model. - They understand that they were born in the wrong body, they have identity problems, and this is really serious. You can face all these things: to feel that you are ugly, that you are some kind of wrong creature. People will make you feel that way, and it can make you feel like you don't have a chance in life. So I want a young 20-year-old transgender man to open a magazine, see my photo and, after reading about me, exclaim: “Oh! She is a transgender! After that, perhaps, at least for a moment, he will feel relief. That's what matters most.
After stepfather Kim Kardashian had a gender change at 65, we decided to recall the names of the models who also decided on a new look.
Transgender people have a symptom in which the brain signals the body that it is living a life unusual for its gender. This feature is not due to social influence. Actually, this should not be called a symptom - it seems that we are talking about a disease. At the same time, doctors are sure that transsexuals are born, and they know from an early age that they are.
Andrea Pejic
The feminine beauty of Andrej Pejic was exploited by many eminent designers and magazines for a long time, but the model was tired of living a double life and he decided to become Andrej, undergoing a sex change operation in 2014.
For some time, Andrea waited until the noise around her operation subsided, and now she has returned to working as a model. 23-year-old Pejic walked the runway as a woman at the fashion show from the brand Giles, starred for Vogue magazine.
Arishe Wenzer
Arishe was born and raised in Virginia, USA. Her family was supportive in everything. Arishe never took hormones, but did plastic surgery to change sex. For a long time, being a guy, she considered herself a homosexual. However, after visiting doctors and a psychotherapist, she accepted herself as a transgender. Doctors made such a diagnosis to Arisha.
Wenzer has been described as one of the most famous transgender models in the world, having appeared in publications such as Purple, Candy and Dirty Mag, as well as in advertisements for Opening Ceremony and Topshop.
Jenna Talakova
Jenna, having been born a boy, already at the age of 4 considered herself a girl. The course of hormone therapy began for her at the age of 14, and the sex change operation took place at 19. Canadian model Jenna Talakova gained fame when she was banned from participating in Miss Universe Canada because of her transgender.
Jenna won the legal dispute, thereby establishing justice and proving that being transgender should not be an obstacle to a fulfilling life. In the competition, by the way, Jenna was among the top 12 participants
Lea T
Muse and friend of Ricardo Tisci, Lea has repeatedly appeared on Givenchy catwalks. Modeling career developed rapidly until Lea took a break and decided on an expensive operation for the final transformation. In February 2015, Leu was listed by Forbes as one of the 12 Italian women who changed the world of fashion, along with Miuccia Prada, Anna Dello Russo and Franca Sozzani.
Juliana Huxtable
A native of Texas, Juliana Huxtable exploits her creativity in various fields: she writes poetry, draws, works as a DJ and model. She has appeared on the DKNY and Hood by Air runways and has participated in numerous art exhibitions.
Gina Rosero
Having conquered her native Philippine Islands, Gina Rosero went to conquer New York and is doing it quite successfully. She is known for her speech at the TED conference, as well as for her work to protect the rights of transgender people. Despite the good chances of becoming famous model, Gina's main goal is to become the first transgender UN Ambassador.
Carmen Carrera
Carmen's modeling career began after her participation in the famous reality show in the USA - Steven Meisel himself photographed her for W Magazine. Like many other transgender people, Carmen is actively involved in charity and volunteer work and asks journalists to think less about genitals and gender change, and more about the person behind it all.
Ines Rau
This beautiful French model became famous a couple of years ago thanks to a very provocative photo shoot. After that, she took part in an advertising campaign for Barneys, and also received an invitation to become the face of a new campaign for jeweler Alexis Bittar.
Lea's androgynous appearance - mysterious, incomprehensible, aristocratic and completely unearthly - came just in time, the trend of mixing styles has already entered the fashion world. So, blurring the line between gender differences, Leah has become a real rising star.
Lea Ti is an almost unearthly creature. This girl with a completely unearthly appearance is the muse of the legendary Givenchy Fashion House. And this strange model is androgynous, that is, Lea Ti is able to show both female and male images. Model parameters: height - 180 cm; chest - 86 cm; waist - 63 cm; hips - 91 cm. Dark hair and brown eyes - this is the image of a mysterious girl named Lea Tee, who made a lot of noise when it turned out that the fragile and mannered Lea was actually a man.
Born Leandro Medeiros Cerezo (Leandro Medeiros Cerezo) in 1981 in the Brazilian city
e Belo Horizonte (Belo Horizonte, Brazil), then it was a boy. By the way, his father is a famous Brazilian footballer, midfielder Toninho Cerezo.
Later, in her interviews, the already famous model Lea T admitted that she realized her dissimilarity to others as a child, but at that time and in that society it had to be hidden. So, experiencing cravings not at all for opposite sex Leandro grew up.
It is known that Leandro did not dream of modeling at all, he always loved animals and thought of becoming a veterinarian. He came to the world of the pier after meetings
with today's famous fashion designer Riccardo Tisci, current director of Givenchy Fashion House. So, Ricardo was also young, received an excellent education and a good career in the fashion industry loomed before him. Having met Leandro, he did not see a man in him, but he saw Lea - a sophisticated and beautiful girl who could make a real revolution on the fashion catwalks. So, it was Tisci who contributed to the fact that Leandro turned into Lea - they worked together on a new image, and Lea, according to her confession, finally became herself.
Together with Tishi vn
the baked girl arrived in Paris (Paris) - her external data simply demanded to be shown.
In 2010, Lea Tee (she was now called that) became the official face of "Givenchy". For two seasons, Lea worked with Ricardo - she was a friend, companion and assistant to Tisha. Of course, the ambitious director of the Fashion House did everything he could for his girlfriend, and in the near future she became, as it were, an integral part of Givenchy, appearing in many publications, photo shoots and fashion events.
Lea's androgynous appearance is mysterious, incomprehensible, aristocratic and perfect.
very unearthly - it came just in time, the trend of mixing styles has already entered the fashion world. So, blurring the line between gender differences, Leah has become a real rising star.
However, behind the world of fashion scenes, Lea still felt like a "man in a skirt" - after all, anatomically she remained a man, although she felt like a woman. So it was decided to change gender. It is known that she had to defend her right and opinion in front of her relatives, who resigned themselves to the female image, but were not ready to receive an absolute daughter named Lea instead of their son Leandro.
As a result, Lea nevertheless began preparations for the sex change operation, having passed the first stage.
Perhaps the most famous picture of Lea T on the Internet is a photo where she kisses Kate Moss (Kate Moss). This picture appeared on the cover of Love Magazine in 2011. In addition to "Love", Lea T has already appeared in the pages of Interview Magazine, Vogue Paris, Cover Magazine, Hercules Magazine and several other publications. By the way, models.com gave her 42nd place in their ranking of "Top 50 Models".
It is noteworthy that, despite the dizzying prospects, Lea Tee did not collect
She wants to associate her whole life with the fashion industry - she is still attracted by the opportunity to become a veterinarian.
It is also known that Lea T simply hates the intrusive paparazzi who follow her everywhere. This is not surprising - after all, in addition to fame, Lea Tee is also of interest for its gender ambiguity. However, for herself, everything has been clear for a long time - Lea Ti feels like a woman, lives like a woman, and does not plan to become a man again. By the way, even in the interval between the first and second stages of the sex change operation, she continued to participate in the filming
