Model, actress, and designer Isis King may have been born biologically male, but ever since childhood she knew she was woman. Establishing a transgender identity does not come easy though, and at 23, Isis was homeless, living at a New York City LGBT shelter. After finding work as a background model for an America’s Next Top Model photo shoot, host Tyra Banks took an interest in her, and asked Isis be a part of the show’s next season. Within months, Isis was in the national spotlight as the first transgender contestant on Top Model, and she has used her platform to follow her dreams…
Model, actress, and designer Isis King may have been born biologically male, but ever since childhood she knew she was woman. Establishing a transgender identity does not come easy though, and at 23, Isis was homeless, living at a New York City LGBT shelter. After finding work as a background model for an America’s Next Top Model photo shoot, host Tyra Banks took an interest in her, and asked Isis be a part of the show’s next season. Within months, Isis was in the national spotlight as the first transgender contestant on Top Model, and she has used her platform to follow her dreams ever since – expanding her modeling and acting career, designing her own fashion line, and serving as an activist for transgender people everywhere.
When did Isis realize that something was “different”?
According to her, “as early as she could remember!” From the age of two or three, “everything I did felt out of place,” she says. She didn’t feel comfortable being in the boys bathroom, or being around other boys. But the pressures from family and community didn’t make things easy. She says she would be “punished for doing things that weren’t boyish,” and the fear of opening up was enough to keep her from revealing the truth until much later in life.
Education through… Maury?
Part of her problem was awareness. Growing up, Isis didn’t even know being transgender was a “thing”. The concept wasn’t introduced to her until long after she had noticed her differences. When she was about “7 or 8 years old”, she was watching an episode of Maury that featured, in sensational fashion, a transgender person. “When I saw that, I said, ‘That’s me! I get it!” This was the first time she was able to put a word, or an idea, to her own identity, as silly as the context may have been. The courage to actually come out would come much later.
Watch the rest of the interview with Isis King here
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Isis King’s Advice To Those Who Feel They Are In The Wrong Body
