Transgender 'Euphoria' Star Hunter Schafer Says She Underwent Gender-Affirming Bottom Surgery: 'I Love It So Much'
Hunter Schafer originally transitioned at 14 years old.
Oct. 20 2026, Published 6:30 p.m. ET
Transgender actress and model Hunter Schafer has revealed she underwent gender-affirming bottom surgery, RadarOnline.com can report.
The 27-year-old had transitioned to female at 14, but didn't get the surgery until late last year.
'I'm A Woman'
The 27-year-old became a plaintiff at only 17 for North Carolina's anti-trans bathroom bill.
"I just had bottom surgery in December, which was amazing, and I love it so much," she said in an interview.
Bottom surgery, also known as gender-confirmation surgery, is a set of multiple reconstructive surgical procedures that alter a person's genitalia, helping them align with their gender identity and relieve gender dysphoria. The surgery can be done on both males and females.
Schafer always considered herself gender fluid, looking at her identity with "an expansive view." Now, she has a more certain attitude on who she is, describing it as a "flatter" place.
"I’m a woman. I’m a girl," she said. To come to that conclusion, she had to contend with the idea of queerness as a philosophy, as opposed to "how it applies and works in real life, in the context of the world that we’re living in," she added. "I feel like there’s always a tension there."
In 2016, she became the youngest plaintiff in the legal challenge to North Carolina's "bathroom bill," which restricted access to transgender people. She participated in her home state's rally, which called for an appeal, protesting as a high school senior.
"You can make it the law, but are you deploying a little gender policeman to stand outside the bathrooms?" she said when comparing the North Carolina bill with a new U.K. law that says people must use the bathroom that matches with their birth s--.
'It's About Possibility And Expansion And Growth'
Schafer had enough experience trying to assimilate with a 'queer utopia,' ultimately deciding surgery was the best decision for her journey.
Schafer acknowledged becoming a role model for the queer and trans communities, which put a particular identity on her as she was also still finding her footing in the entertainment industry.
"I feel like that’s the magical thing about queerness," she said. "On an ideological level, it’s about possibility and expansion and growth, and being on that journey and finding yourself."
Schafer went on for a while, battling the idea that she needed to be happy in her existing body to welcome queerness in a way that feels inclusive. "For a long time I’ve embraced the gender-expansive part of myself, and I really wanted to try to make that previous body work, because I thought there was something really cool and badass about it," she noted.
But Schafer repeatedly hit a wall when the "theoretical queer utopia" didn't correlate with the world she saw every day, and how she wanted to appear in it. The medical transition was the right move for Schafer, but it may not be the case with all trans people. As a public figure, she understands she may be judged by both the queer and cis communities for her choice.
Hunter Schafer Is Moving On From Trans Being Her Focus
Schafer's friends and family visited her during recovery while she was bedridden.
The actress discussed her recovery when she rented a big apartment and had friends and family visit while she remained in bed. She said she had a limit of 150 steps a day, so she was very much confined to lying down.
In 2024, she brought up how she was looking forward to a time when her identity, along with the trans community in general, is not the first thing mentioned, or even mentioned at all. With her work in the spotlight, she has been strategic in how she talks about herself, even trying to avoid the word "trans" in interviews at the time.
"It has not just happened naturally by any means. If I let it happen, it would still be giving ‘Transsexual Actress’ before every article ever," she told a publication.
The Cuckoo star claimed it took a while for her to acknowledge that she doesn't want to be reduced to it. She found it "demeaning" to herself and her work. "I worked so hard to get to where I am, past these really hard points in my transition, and now I just want to be a girl and finally move on," she said.
Hunter Schafer Does Not Want Her Roles to Focus on the Trans Struggle
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Schafer is vying for more roles that don't center trans struggles.
Schafer became so intertwined with her Euphoria character, Jules, which was her first acting gig where she also played a trans woman, skyrocketing her fame. She felt responsible and guilty for not being more of a spokesperson for the community, despite spending her teen years advocating for trans rights.
"I really do believe that not making it the centerpiece to what I’m doing will allow me to get further," she said.
She believes just being in the spotlight and doing her job successfully is a more helpful way to advocate for the opportunities trans people should have. She has worked on decentering transness from her public image, calling it a "privilege" to be able to deny the multitude of trans roles she's been offered because that's not necessarily the type of art she wants to get stuck doing. Instead of digging into emotional despair or being put in tough scenarios,
Schafer hopes to do more casual roles, like a trans character in a show like Girls, or a rom-com.
"I am totally cool with people hating me for being trans or calling me a man. I am not interested in trying to convince them anymore," she declared.
