Rodrigo Alves, a Brazilian-British TV personality who underwent numerous plastic surgeries on a quest to become a human "Ken Doll", recently dropped a bombshell reveal by coming out as a transgender woman, the Sunday Mirror reports.
According to the newspaper, Alves, who now prefers to be called Roddy with the pronouns "she" and "her", said that "it feels amazing to finally tell the world I’m a girl".
"I’m known as Ken but inside I’ve always felt like Barbie", Alves said. "I finally feel like the real me. Glamorous, beautiful and feminine. For years I tried to live my life as a man. I had a fake six pack put in, I had fake muscles in my arms but I was lying to myself. I’m a woman and have always had a feminine brain. Now my body matches my mind".
Next year, the reality TV star is expected to undergo a gender realignment surgery, including Adam’s apple removal, face feminisation procedure and silicone breast implants installation.
"Behind closed doors, I’ve been living as a woman for the last three months. I love it and everything that comes with it – going to nice hair salons and getting my nails, eyebrows and eyelashes done. Buying dresses and high heels and wearing sexy lingerie", Alves said. "But I have been trolled and called a freak and a weirdo, so of course I am nervous about how people will react. A few years ago I could never have done this but it feels easier now. People are more aware of what being transgender means. I just hope people can accept me as a woman and don’t judge or ridicule me".
She also recalled how she was bullied as a child due to her feminine appearance, musing that that mistreatment likely "spurred her on to make a success of her life", as the newspaper put it.
But it was a photoshoot a year ago, where Roddy was asked to don women’s clothes, when she realised "she wanted to transition".
And now, while the changes made in her body by hormone therapy are yet to fully manifest, Roddy claims that she already noticed a difference in the way people perceive her.
"Men look at me because they desire me. And women look at me because they want to copy what I’m wearing. It’s a totally different type of attention. Before, people looked at me because I looked very androgynous and weird for a man", Roddy said. "Now I hope they are looking because they think I am a beautiful woman".