VIDEO: Chaz Bono - "I’m Living The Life I Always Wanted To Live”
Nov. 19 2009, Published 1:33 p.m. ET
Saying “I’m living the life I always wanted to live,” Chaz Bono, the daughter-turned-son of Cher and the late Sonny Bono, told Good Morning America on Thursday that with life being short and precious, he had to seek his destiny as a man, leading to him undergo a gender reassignment process earlier this year.
"I need to finally be who I am," Bono said. "It’s the best decision I've ever made ... I feel great."
The reclusive writer, who lives in West Hollywood with his girlfriend, Jennifer Elia, looked dapper in a grey pinstriped suit with a blue shirt and striped tie in the GMA exclusive. Bono said issues that he considered in making the life-changing decision included doing it in the public's eye and how the decision would impact his friends and loved ones.
Bono, 40, told GMA, “To me, gender is between your ears, not between your legs," adding she always felt like a man trapped in a woman's body, dating as far back to childhood. Referring to his childhood, Bono said: “I felt like a boy.”
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He said that many FTMs -- female-to-male gender reassignment patients -- often begin in the lesbian community, as he had. He said he would continue to be an active presence in the LGBT community, but "focus more on the T, instead of the L and the G."