Congratulations are in order for actress Tommy Dorfman!
The 13 Reasons Why star revealed she has been “been privately identifying and living as a woman” for the past year in a new interview with TIME.
“Coming out is always viewed as this grand reveal, but I was never not out,” she said. “Today is about clarity: I am a trans woman. My pronouns are she/her. My name is Tommy.”
The 29-year-old also announced her gender on Instagram, writing, “Thrilled to reintroduce myself as the woman I am today. My pronouns are she/her.” Tommy went on to say that she is “especially grateful” to the trans people who have “broke down barriers” and “risked their lives” before her.
“Thank you to all the trans woman that showed me who I am, how to live, celebrate myself, and take up space in this world,” she finished.
While Tommy has debuted changes to her appearance via social media this year— using Instagram as a “diaristic time capsule” to showcase her transition— she told TIME it was important to address it publicly.
“I’ve learned as a public-facing person that my refusal to clarify 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.”
On the decision to keep her name, Tommy says she feels connected to her name. “I’m named after my mom’s brother who passed a month after I was born, and I feel very connected to that name, to an uncle who held me as he was dying,” she said. “This is an evolution of Tommy. I’m becoming more Tommy.”
And though Tommy feared that by “actively transitioning” she would lose career opportunities, she says she is “no longer interested” in playing ‘male’ characters and she is excited to play women.
We love to see someone living their authentically true self.