Openly gay actor Rupert Everett says he wanted to be a woman when he was younger

Before the tender age of fifteen, gay actor Rupert Everett – known for his roles in the BBC 1’s current show, The Musketeers, and as the voice of Prince Charming in the Shrek sequels – expressed some trans sentiment.

“I really wanted to be a girl,” the actor said to the Sunday Times magazine. “Thank God the world of now wasn’t then, because I’d be on hormones and I’d be a woman.”

Everett explained that the gender dysphoria he was experiencing prior to the age of fifteen was something that disappeared subsequently: “After I was fifteen I never wanted to be a woman again.”

As far as trans children, Rupert expresses his opinion that parents who “get medical” are scary: “It’s nice to be allowed to express yourself [at a young age], but the hormone thing, very young, is a big step.

“I think a lot of children have an ambivalence when they’re very young to what sex they are or what they feel about everyone.”

Irish Trans Rights

With trans issues becoming increasingly visible in the public eye, people who are not cisgender or who experience some gender dysphoria are now more aware of options that are available to them.

With the passing of the Gender Recognition Act last year in Ireland, Irish trans people are now able to “achieve full legal recognition of their preferred gender” and provisions for “the acquisition of a new birth certificate that reflects this change.”

However, for minors under the age of eighteen in Ireland, the process is more complicated.

“Young people aged sixteen to seventeen can also apply to be legally recognised, though the process is more onerous,” TENI (Transgender Equality Network Ireland) indicates.

While some might find it overly restrictive that children under the age of sixteen cannot act upon gender dysphoria, it is worth noting that hormonal changes during puberty – which usually happens between ages twelve and sixteen for boys, and between ages ten and fourteen for girls – may impact upon one’s sense of self, association with gender, and sexual identity.

(image: Harald Bischoff)