13 Reasons Why star Tommy Dorfman has been “privately identifying and living as a woman,” and now she’s ready to open up to the world about her transition.
Dorfman sat down with novelist Torrey Peters for a Time interview to reintroduce herself as a trans woman.
She explained, “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. My pronouns are she/her. My name is Tommy.”
The 29-year-old further explained plans to keep her name, saying, “I’m not changing my 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. This is an evolution of Tommy. I’m becoming more Tommy.”
She added, “It is not transition. Or it is, but not as an idea of going somewhere. Just that I am actually myself.”
Tommy also explained what is next for her, saying, “I’m thinking about how I can infuse my trans body into film and television. Lena Dunham gave me my first role as a girl last year—it was so exciting and validating. And personally, it’s wild to be 29 and going through puberty again. Some days I feel like I’m 14. As a result of that shift, the types of romantic partnerships I seek out are different.”
She continued, “I was in a nine-year relationship in which I was thought of as a more male-bodied person, with a gay man. 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.”
Read Tommy Dorfman‘s full interview at Time.
