Some of these stars made the change once they were already famous, while others made it long before. Either way, none of these entertainers hid who they really were from the spotlight. Here are 15 celebrities who had sex changes.
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Alexis Arquette
Cabaret performer Arquette is sister to Patricia, David and the rest of the famous Arquette crew. Arquette allowed her transition from male to female to be documented in the film, “Alexis Arquette: She’s My Brother.”
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Carmen Carrera
Carrera became famous after appearing on “RuPaul’s Drag Race” as a male, but not long after she made the transition to female. Once living as a gay man, Carrera had a long domestic partnership with Adrien Torres but after her transition they broke up.
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Isis King
King was the first transgender contestant to appear on “America’s Next Top Model” and even went on to compete in the all-star edition. King was born as a male and in high school came out as gay. By 2007 she was on hormone treatment to make her full transition into being a woman.
Lea T
Lea T is a model who has appeared in Vogue Paris and Interview magazine. Lea was born as Leandro but underwent male-to-female transformation in 2012 in Thailand. Lea has said she is attracted to both sexes.
Amanda Lepore
Lepore is a performance artist and has modeled for M.A.C. Cosmetics, Swatch, CAMP Cosmetics and more. Lepore was born Armand but at the age of 17 underwent gender reconstruction surgery.
Chaz Bono
Bono, son of Cher and Sonny Bono, spent many years as a lesbian woman before undergoing the female-to-male gender transition between 2008 and 2010. Bono is a big gay rights activist.
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Lana Wachowski
Wachowski was born as Larry Wachowski. Wachowski became famous for directing “The Matrix.” Wachowski reportedly made her transition from male to female in 2008. In 2012 Lana received the Human Rights Campaign’s Visibility Award.
Candis Cayne
Cayne was born as a set of fraternal twins and didn’t even know what a transsexual was until well after high school, when she had moved to New York to perform as a drag performer in gay bars. Cayne began transitioning in 1996 and by 2001 had won the Miss Continental pageant.
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Janet Mock
Mock is the editor of People.com and just in 2011 came out as a transgender woman in a Marie Claire article. Mock was displeased that the article stated she was raised as a boy saying, “I was always a girl.”
Laverne Cox
Cox of “Orange is the New Black” was the first African-American transgender to make an appearance on a large reality show, competing on, “I Wanna Work For Diddy.” Cox’s twin brother M Lamar portrays her pre-transition version on “Orange is the New Black.”
Thomas Beatie
Beatie is an advocate for transgender and sexuality issues and is known as “The Pregnant Man” because he carried and gave birth to he and his wife’s two children.
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Marci Bowers, M.D.
Bowers is the first transgender woman to also perform transgender surgeries. Bowers was born Mark Bowers and married her wife while she was still a man. Bowers is still married to her wife and performed Isis King’s surgery.
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Jenna Talackova
Talackova was born a boy but already began gender transition by the age of 14, finishing by age 19. Talackova was disqualified from the Miss Universe Canada contest in 2012, but she fought to regain her spot in the competition.
Christine Jorgensen
Jorgensen was one of the first people to become famous for undergoing gender transformation surgery. Joregensen served as a clerk in the army before undergoing the surgery in the 50s.
