Oprah features transgender lesbian filmmaker Kim Reed [video]
”I was this perfect guy in some ways, but I was just trying to overcompensate to be successful at this male thing… I thought it would fix me. I thought it would make this other crazy idea go away…. A lot of times, I wanted to be one of the girls more than to really have a girlfriend…. I kind of found it through a process of elimination. And I didn’t know what felt right until I got there. Going through the process, it wasn’t like I could really even put my finger on it at first. … I was trying to avoid it, I didn’t want to be ‘weird.’ I didn’t want to be different, I wanted to fit in…. I’m wondering if I’m gay, and I try dating men as a man, and that doesn’t feel right. But what it really was, is I’m realizing at that time, that I’m just drawn — I just have to be female.”
Kim Reed speaking of her early life as Paul McKerrow, the star quarterback at high school. She spoke with Oprah on yesterday’s show about her new film, “Paul McKerrow ” which primarily follows her return home for a high school reunion after transitioning to female, and her relationship difficulties with a competitive older brother, and a surprising link to Hollywood royalty. Oprah seemed confused by the fact that Reed is now dating a woman, and welcomed Reed’s childhood best friend’s confusion, adding that he didn’t want to say it felt “weird” but it did, and that when he met the new Kim, he was a bit attracted to her physically. Oprah threw out the theory that parents often try to deny what they’re seeing in their children, but Reed’s mother insisted several times she really never saw anything to indicate her son’s desire to become a woman, and looking back still didn’t. Reed said she hid it well. (Oprah)
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