Here we make a list of famous people who underwent gender transition.
1. Elliot Page (Ellen page)
The actress Ellen Page is famous for her appearance in movies like Juno (2007) and Inception (2010). Ellen came out as gay in February 14, 2014, during a speech at the Human Rights Campaign conference in Las Vegas. Ellen Page came out as a trans man on his social media accounts and revealed his new name, Elliot, on December 1, 2020. He appeared on the cover of Time in March 2021, becoming the first openly trans man to do so.
2. Chaz Bono (Chastity Bono)
Chastity Bono is the daughter of entertainers Sonny Bono and Cher, who used to make regular appearances as a child on their television show, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour. Bono began undergoing a physical and social transition from female to male in 2008. The transition was confirmed by his publicist in June 2009, who identified his name as Chaz Bono. He made a documentary Becoming Chaz, about his transition.
3. Kellie Maloney (Francis Maloney)
Francis Maloney is the English boxing manager and promoter who managed Lennox Lewis between 1989 and 2001. In August 2014, Francis announced in the Sunday Mirror that he is undergoing gender reassignment and wishes to be known as Kellie. Maloney divorced her second wife Tracey who she was married for 15 years and had two kids. Lennox Lewis was initially shocked but later expressed support to Maloney’s decision.
4. Caitlyn Jenner (Bruce Jenner)
Bruce Jenner won the men’s decathlon event at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. He was also known for marrying Kris Kardashian, with whom he had two children, Kendall and Kylie. Jenner came out as a trans woman in a 20/20 television interview with Diane Sawyer in April 2015. She held a renaming ceremony in July 2015, in which she adopted the name Caitlyn Marie Jenner. In June 2016, she became the first openly transgender person to be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
5. Heidi Krieger (Andreas Krieger)
Heidi Krieger was a East German shot putter who won the gold medal at the 1986 European Championships. She was unknowingly doped with anabolic steroids for years by East German officials which had significant androgenic effects on the body. Heidi who was not convinced with her gender identity, was further exacerbated by chemical changes due to doping procedure. In 1997, at the age of 31, Krieger underwent sex reassignment surgery and changed his name to Andreas. He testified at the trial of former East German sports program officials for doping athletes, which led to their conviction. The Heidi Krieger Medal, given annually to Germans who combat doping, is named after Krieger.
6. Christine Jorgensen (George William Jorgensen, Jr.)
Christine Jorgensen is the first widely known transsexual in history. Jorgensen who was dealing with gender identity all her life heard of sex reassignment surgery and flew to Copenhagen, where she underwent hormone replacement therapy under a Dr. Christian Hamburger, who was a endocrinologist who specialized in rehabilitative hormonal therapy. She chose the name Christine in honor of Hamburger. Christine who planned to keep her transition a secret was outed by the New York Daily News on on December 1, 1952, with a front page story under the headline “Ex-GI Becomes Blonde Beauty”, which made her a instant celebrity. Jorgensen was not allowed to obtain a marriage certificate because her birth certificate recognized her as male and gay marriage was illegal. She died of bladder and lung cancer on May 3, 1989, at age 62.
Christine Jorgensen transition reported in the newspaper
7. Laverne Cox (Roderick Laverne Cox)
Laverne Cox came to prominence for her appearance as Sophia Burset on the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black. She shared in a Instagram post that she began her transition in her 20s in New York before she was famous. Cox is the first transgender person to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in an acting category and the first to have a wax figure of herself at Madame Tussauds.
8. Chelsea Manning (Bradley Manning)
Bradley Manning is a former United States Army soldier who was convicted by court-martial in July 2013 of violations of the Espionage Act for providing Wikileaks with 100,000 military field reports and over 250,000 confidential State Department documents. He was sentenced for 35 years in prison but was released in 2017, after her sentence was commuted by President Barack Obama. On August 22, 2013, the day after sentencing, Manning’s attorney issued a press release to the Today show announcing that his client was a female, and asked that she be referred to by her new name of Chelsea.
9. The Wachowskis
Lana Wachowski (Larry)
They are siblings who direct films who got global fame after the release of their second film, The Matrix (1999). Larry the older of two siblings, was the first to transition and revealed it to press after the release of the movie Speed Racer in 2008. Lana made her first public appearance after transitioning in July 2012 in a video discussing the creative process behind Cloud Atlas.
Lilly Wachowski (Andy)
Lilly Wachowski also came out as a transgender woman in March 2016 to the Chicago-based LGBT newspaper, Windy City Times. She made her first public appearance since beginning transitioning, a few week later at the 27th GLAAD Media Awards.
10. Elizabeth Eden
Elizabeth Eden with John Wojtowicz
She was a trans woman who tried to rob a Chase Manhattan bank branch in Gravesend, Brooklyn, on August 22, 1972, with her husband, John Wojtowicz, to pay for her gender-affirming surgery. Wojtowicz was sentenced to 20 years in prison of which he served five. Eden married and divorced someone else. She died of AIDS-related pneumonia on September 29, 1987, aged 41. The movie Dog Day Afternoon (1975) was based on their bank robbery incident.
