’13 Reasons Why’ Star Tommy Dorfman Reintroduces Herself as a Transgender Woman
Tommy Dorfman isn't coming out as much as she is reintroducing herself.
On Thursday (July 22), in an interview with Time Magazine she revealed that she is a transgender woman and has been privately identifying and living as a woman for the last year.
"It’s funny to think about coming out, because I haven’t gone anywhere. I view today as a reintroduction to me as a woman, having made a transition medically. Coming out is always viewed as this grand reveal, but I was never not out. Today is about clarity: I am a trans woman," she told the outlet.
"It is not transition. Or it is, but not as an idea of going somewhere. Just that I am actually myself," she added. Tommy Dorfman confirmed that she uses she/her pronouns.
She shared that she was living as a trans woman but didn't feel safe enough to speak openly about it. Now, she realizes that transitioning is beautiful and wants to show the world what it looks like. She has been documenting her progress that "shows a body living in a more fluid space" on her Instagram account.
"However, I’ve learned as a public-facing person that my refusal to clarify [genders] can strip me of the freedom to control my own narrative," she explained. "With this medical transition, there has been discourse about my body, and it began to feel overwhelming. So, recently I looked to examples of others who have come out as trans. There’s the version I couldn’t really afford to do, which is to disappear for two years and come back with a new name, new face and new body. But that’s not what I wanted."
Dorfman explained that she will not change her name as it is not "viable." She was named after her mother's late brother who held her as he was dying and feels "very connected" to her name.
She revealed that she was nervous to lose her acting career but plans to only portray female characters in the future unless it was done in a “Cate Blanchett playing Bob Dylan” situation.
Not only her career changed but going through puberty made her feel like she was 14 again in some ways. This also resulted in her romantic relationships changing. She and her now ex-boyfriend of nine years broke up and became platonic friends.
"I love him so much, but we’ve been learning that as a trans woman, what I’m interested in is not necessarily reflected in a gay man. So we’ve had incredible conversations to redefine our relationship as friends. Transitioning has been liberating and clarifying," she concluded.