It seems that there are quite a few transgender celebrities who were born male and transitioned to female, but there are also a lot of people out there who were born female and then transitioned into living as a male. Some of them are more famous than others. Here are 15 different people who were born female but then transitioned to female at different points in their life. They have some pretty different stories about how they began their transitions and how they have felt about it. Some of them have been living as males for many many years, while some of them are still quite young and are only recently undergoing the changes. Interestingly, one of these people was actually given hormones to start the transition without their knowing which makes for an interesting story, and not something that you'd wish for anyone's life even if things ended up working out okay in the long run.
15 Chaz Bono
Chaz Bono was born as Chastity Bono to the very famous Sonny and Cher. He first identified as a lesbian but then underwent gender reassignment surgery in 2008 which is when he legally changed his name as well. Chaz has worked as an LGBT activist and leader, a spokesperson for a Human Rights Campaign, and has served as the director of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). “I confused gender identity with orientation. Your gender identity is about who you are, how you feel, the gender that you feel yourself to be. Your orientation is who you’re attracted to.” Chaz has discussed feeling out of place as an actor and putting that goal aside for a while and then deciding to pick things back up again once he realized who he really was. "I didn't know at the time that I was transgender, but I knew that I wasn't very commercial, and I didn't play female characters very well, so I felt like I had to find something different to do.
14 Ian Harvie
Comedian Ian Harvie came out at 19 and lived as a gay female until her 30s when she decided to transition and become a man. She has said, "People often think that because you are laughing that it’s somehow not intimate, but I think it’s one of the most vulnerable things we can do with each other. The moment after we share a laugh, our shoulders lower, our guard goes down.” Ian references being a trans man in his standup acts, had a role on Transparent, and this past year was cast on the show Mistresses. Ian has talked about living as a man: "Maybe there’s an invisibility thing with trans masculine guys sometimes. For example, I have this thing—that I sincerely could give two sh!+s about— called male privilege or passing privilege. It’s given freely to me at a glance because of my exterior gender presentation. I believe masculinity is less scrutinized or questioned and far more worshiped and maybe people, to a large extent, don’t clock guys like me as being different than cis guys, that’s a privilege, I know."
13 Laith Ashley
Laith Ashley is a transgender man who has found a lot of success as an underwear model and was one of the first trans males to land a national modeling campaign when he signed a deal with Barney's. Laith has said that he felt that there was a misalignment between his body and his mind as young as five-years-old. He came out gay to his parents when he was 17, and then years later realized that he was actually transgender. He started getting work as a model only two years after going through his transition. He has said, "Being a model now is definitely exciting. I'm always shocked when I'm walking to the gym or going to the store and people recognize me. It makes me feel good, but it can be a bit of a shock." Laith has also said that he went through a bit of a transition period emotionally since he was never trying to become a role model, and yet he's found himself in that position. "I went through a period of being very overwhelmed. I focused on all the negative comments I was receiving and just wanted to disappear. I never thought of myself as a role model. It was a label placed upon me after my photos began circulating through social media."
12 Andreas Krieger
Andreas Krieger was born as Heidi Krieger who became a German shot putter competing as a woman on the East German Athletics team. When he was 18 he started developing more masculine characteristics when he was unaware that he was using anabolic steroids. Basically East German officials in the country were doping him without his knowledge. In 1997 he underwent a gender reassignment surgery and changed his name. He has said that he is glad that it happened, but also that “It’s difficult to say whether I would be Heidi today or not but I could have decided on my own… I was thrown out of my gender.” He has said that he did experience some gender dysphoria before he was doped, but that, of course, he would have preferred to make the transition on his own accord on his own timing instead of being forced into it. He said that he was deprived the right to "find out for myself which gender I wanted to be." Andreas, ultimately had to retire from athletics because he had pain from lifting such heavy amounts of weight while he was on steroids.
11 Buck Angel
Buck Angel was born Susan and lived through years of being uncomfortable in his body. He worked as a female model for many years and then started doing adult films as a man without going through an actual transition. He has talked extensively about living as a male without undergoing the surgery and uses his story to inspire others. He has said, “Oh wow that show was such an awesome opportunity for me to educate so many people that I feel can benefit from hearing my story and perspective. Joe Rogan is a really great guy. How can a man be a man without his member is one of the questions I get all the time, of course. It’s really not possible to answer. I can tell you for myself why I feel like a man, or what makes me a man. Which is mostly lots of the physical things such as my facial and body hair, muscles, and also the way I smell. These things all make me feel very masculine and male. Also, the way I dress. To be a man or woman is also so much more but really it does come down to how you see yourself.”
10 Ryan Sallans
Ryan Sallans was born as Kimberly Ann Sallans, and these days he is an author who talks about eating disorders, body image, gender identity and expression, social justice, and LGBT youth. Ryan began his transition in 2005 which began with hormone therapy and a bilateral mastectomy. Then he followed that with a hysterectomy in 2006, and then a metoidioplasty in 2008. He legally changed his name at that point in time and was featured in a LOGO documentary Gender Rebel. In 2012 he wrote a memoir called Second Son: Transitioning Toward My Destiny, Love and Life. He has said, "The most important thing we should do is honor who we are over any other person’s wishes. After my transition began, my first relationship went through some extremely troubling times, which included a separation. As we struggled, I kept trying to change myself to hopefully make my girlfriend more comfortable with me and my transgender identity. This isn’t the right approach because denying who I was only made me more uncomfortable in my skin.”
9 Katastrophe
San Francisco based hip-hop artist and activist Katastrophe was born female and is thought to be the first hip-hop artist to discuss his trans identity through his work. He has been featured in documentaries like Poetic License, Pick Up the Mic, Enough Man, and Riot Acts. He also discusses issues like community, privilege, intimacy, and self-worth. “I know that I reached a lot of young trans guys looking for their reflection in culture during that moment. That felt important and cool. A bunch of young dudes wrote to me during that time about how they used a couple of those songs to come out to their parents. I never set out with the goal of affecting the community, I just want to be real about my life and struggles and if people relate or get something from it, that is a big bonus.” In October of 2009, he and Amos Mac founded a magazine called Original Plumbing, which was the first magazine made by and for trans men.
8 Thomas Beatie
Thomas Beatie was born Tracy Lehuanani LaGondino and he actually chose to undergo gender reassignment surgery but hold onto his female reproductive organs. Sterilization is not a requirement to undergo a valid gender change anywhere in the United States, so he chose not to while changing some of the outer appearances. That meant that when he got married he was actually able to carry a child, which he did. His wife was infertile, and they used a donor to impregnate him through artificial insemination. Initially, he had an ectopic pregnancy with triplets which he lost, but then later was able to carry three children. He is the first legally documented male to give birth ever. Later he and his wife Nancy divorced in some nasty circumstances: "My friends, they’re kind of always joking and asking questions like, ‘How did this happen? How does this work?’ Just funny things but really my friends and family are very supportive of us and they love Thomas.”
7 Aydian Dowling
Aydian Dowling came as close to getting on the cover of Men's Health magazine as a transgender man ever has. The transgender male was born a female but these days is a bodybuilder and vlogger. At one point a bunch of his fans who had watched his transition from day one signed a petition to get him on. They did not succeed in getting him on a normal cover of the magazine, but the magazine did feature him in a special edition of the magazine, and he did also end up being the first transgender man to get on the cover of Gay Times magazine. He has spoken out about the first time that someone recognized him as a man and how great it was. “A woman behind a counter of a 7-Eleven said, ‘I can serve you over here, sir.’ It was the first time a complete stranger was seeing the real me, and I was living off that high for quite a while. It was like all my Christmases had come at once like I was living on cloud nine. That must’ve been the best damn stick of gum I’ve ever bought."
6 Ryan Cassata
Ryan Cassata is a transgender man and an accomplished musician, public speaker, writer, filmmaker, and actor at only 22-years-old. Ryan speaks publicly about his own transition, as well as Gender Identity Disorder, being transgender, and bullying. Ryan was the first openly transgender student at his high school of Bay Shore High School, and he has talked about figuring out which bathrooms to use, as well as getting the right to use his chosen name in the yearbook instead of his birth name. Ryan started playing music at the age of six and now uses his music and music videos to discuss social justice. He was the first openly transgender musician to perform at Warped Tour, and in 2015 his YouTube videos had gotten him over 54 thousand subscribers, as well as over 3.3 million views. Here's what he has said on the subject: "When I came out as transgender 7 years ago I was afraid to use the boy's bathroom in my high school (where Harvey Milk graduated from). I was letting fear direct my life. 'Nope, I can't go to that restaurant because I won't be able to use the bathroom.' It wasn't that I couldn't...I was just afraid, incredibly and awfully afraid."
5 Balian Buschbaum
Balian was born as Yvonne and was a successful German pole vaulter. He announced his retirement after dealing with an ongoing injury and then also announced that he would undergo gender reassignment surgery. He has expressed that he always felt like his member was missing, and then he was 13 and started going through puberty he began to grow breasts which he did everything he could to keep them away. He has said, "It felt like they didn’t belong to me. So I began weight training. I did double the amount I was meant to — far too much for my body. My intention was to stop menstruating and keep my breasts small. I wanted my breasts to look like pecs, not breasts." Years later after being a professional athlete he announced that his new first name was "Balian," named after the blacksmith in the movie Kingdom of Heaven and that he would undergo gender reassignment surgery later that year. "In hindsight, I think my anger drove my success. When you feel uncomfortable in your own body, you feel rage. I was able to channel that rage into my sport."
4 Kye Allums
Kye Allums was the first transgender man to play NCAA Division One women's basketball. Kye was born as Kay-Kay and would often call himself a boy growing up. In high school, he identified as a lesbian but later realized that did not fit him either. He has said, "I've always felt most comfortable dressing like a boy, but my mom would take all of my clothes from me and she'd force me to wear girl clothes. I'd bring sweats and basketball shorts and put them in my backpack. I'd just change every day when I got to school, and I had to change back before I went home. It was annoying, but it was the only way I could go to school." There were questions about whether Kye should be allowed to play on the women's team, but the rules state that as long as we weren't taking hormones it was fine. "As the NCAA continues to examine best practices for transgender student-athlete participation. The member of the schools are advised to consider the gender classification of student-athletes' state identification documents, such as driver's licenses and voter registration, to determine appropriate participation."
3 Chris Mosier
Chris Mosier began his athletic career as a woman, before transitioning to become a man in 2010. In 2015, he earned a spot on the Team USA sprint duathlon men's team for the 2016 World Championship, making him the first ever openly trans athlete to join a U.S. national team that was different from the gender that he was assigned at birth. In 2016 Chris was chosen as the first openly transgender athlete to be featured in the "Body Issue" of ESPN The Magazine, and he was also the first transgender athlete to be featured on a Nike Advertisement. “When I was considering transition, I didn’t see any trans men who were athletes. I didn’t know it was possible to continue to compete through transition, and I thought I would go from competitive to middle-of-the-pack in races," he has said before. "But the opposite has been true. I’ve gotten more and more competitive in the male age group, working toward the elite level. My hope is that athletes who are questioning their gender identity can see me and hear my story and know they don’t have to give up their identity as an athlete to live authentically.”
2 Kylar Broadus
Kylar Broadus might not be a celebrity in the traditional sense, but he's someone that everyone should know. Kylar transitioned over 20 years ago and has been working as a lawyer who focuses on LGBT law and transgender rights. He is both the founder and director of the Trans People of Color Coalition, the only organization in the country that is dedicated to the civil rights of transgender people of color. Kylar also co-founded the Transgender Law and Policy Institute. Kylar was the first transgender American to ever testify before the U.S. Senate in favor of the Employment Nondiscrimination Act, which happened in 2012. In his speech, he said, “For me, the physical transition was about letting the outer world know my internal sense of self, of who really was inside this body. … My transition was a matter of living the truth and sharing that truth for the first time in my life.”
1 Mickailia 'Ila' Adu
Sade's only child Mickailia 'Ila' Adu just recently came out as transgender. The 20-year-old had formerly identified as a lesbian, but then recently posted the news of the transition on his Instagram account, saying "today is the first day of the rest of my life. 4/10/16." The caption was referring to the day that he was beginning his hormone therapy, and it also included the hashtags #selfmademan, #finally, and #shotday. Ila made the announcement on National Coming Out Day, which is a day dedicated to encouraging young people to come out when they feel the time is right. It is unknown at this point whether Ila will continue to go by the same name or whether he will change it to a new one. Sade has not publicly commented on Ila's transitioned, but Ila has made it clear in the past that the two are extremely close. On Sade's birthday last year, Ila posted a photo with the caption “the most important person in my life and you mean absolutely everything to me. So glad I got to spend the day with you hope you enjoyed yourself. Love you past the moon and back countless times.”
