Chaz Bono no longer feels like a “cosmic mistake,’’ said Kyle Buchanan in New York. Three years into female-to-male gender reassignment, the 42-year-old—born as Sonny and Cher’s daughter Chastity—is now legally a “he,” and feels at peace with himself for the first time in his life. “There’s a grounded feeling about me that I just didn’t have before,” he says. “I have more confidence. I’m more outgoing. Life has become so much easier.”
He’d been confused about his sexual and gender identity since he was a teenager. “I realized I was attracted to women and then made the assumption that I was a lesbian, and didn’t realize that that wasn’t the case. It was the fact that I was a man and a heterosexual man. I had felt uncomfortable as a woman my whole life.” Cher did not take the news about the sex change well, warning Chaz that the public reaction would be withering. “I think she didn’t expect people to be able to handle it as well as they have. That’s probably just a generational thing.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Democrats: How to rebuild a damaged brandFeature Trump's approval rating is sinking, but so is the Democratic brand
-
Unraveling autismFeature RFK Jr. has vowed to find the root cause of the 'autism epidemic' in months. Scientists have doubts.
-
'Two dolls': Can Trump sell Americans on austerity?Feature Trump's tariffs may be threatening holiday shelves but they've handed Democrats a 'huge gift'
