Lilly Wachowski, Matrix director, comes out as trans woman after British tabloid confronts her
“When you’re living as an out transgender person it’s … kind of difficult to hide. I just wanted — needed some time to get my head right, to feel comfortable. But apparently I don’t get to decide this.”
—Lilly Wachowski, in a statement to The Windy City Times. Wachowski, best known for writing and directing The Matrix series of films, has come out as a transgender woman, revealing that she was transitioning in private but repeated intrusions by publications eager to tell her story had forced her to out herself.
“The ‘news’ has almost come out a couple of times,” she wrote. “Each was preceded by an ominous email from my agent — reporters have been asking for statements regarding the ‘Andy Wachowski gender transition’ story they were about to publish.”
It was a reporter from DailyMail.com, the U.S. digital version of the British tabloid newspaper, that spurred Wachowski to break the news herself.
“Last night while getting ready to go out for dinner my doorbell rang. Standing on my front porch was a man I did not recognize,” said Wachowski. “He proceeded to explain he was a journalist from the Daily Mail…and that I really had to sit down with him tomorrow or the next day or next week so that I could have my picture taken and tell my story which was so inspirational!
“It was the ‘news’ organization that had played a huge part in the national public outing of Lucy Meadows, an elementary school teacher and trans woman in the UK,” she added. “An editorial…demonized her as a damaging influence on the children’s delicate innocence and summarized ‘he’s not only trapped in the wrong body, he’s in the wrong job.’ The reason I knew about her…was because three months after the Daily Mail article came out, Lucy committed suicide.
“And now here they were, at my front door, almost as if to say, ‘There’s another one! Let’s drag ’em out in the open so we can all have a look!'”
Wachowski also highlighted how fortunate she was to able to transition with the support and help of family and friends.
“I am one of the lucky ones,” she wrote. “Having the support of my family and the means to afford doctors and therapists has given me the chance to actually survive the process. Transgender people without support, means and privilege do not have this luxury. And many do not survive.
“So yeah, I’m transgender,” she added. “And yeah, I’ve transitioned.”
Wachowski’s sister, Lana Wachowski, came out as a transgender woman in 2012. In a mock headline at the start of her statement, Lilly referenced this, writing “SEX CHANGE SHOCKER–WACHOWSKI BROTHERS NOW SISTERS!!!”
The Daily Mail has issued a statement refuting Wachowski’s version of events. A spokesman for DailyMail.com said it “categorically denies that it in any way tried to coerce Lilly Wachowski into revealing her gender transition.”
“As Ms Wachowski herself says, we were not the first media organisation to approach her,” the statement continues, “and we made absolutely clear at several points in the conversation that we were only interested in reporting the story if and when she was happy for us to do so and with her cooperation.”
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