‘Glamorous’ star Miss Benny has come out as a transgender woman in an essay for Time.
The former YouTuber said in the essay that she has been living for quite some time as a trans woman and has been privately transitioning.
Although she is ready to share it with the world, Miss Benny expressed that she is still horrified to come out publicly due to her strict and religious upbringing. The actress claimed that she was homeschooled to be shielded from anything that might meddle with the Christian faith his parents raised her in.
“I entered relationships where my femininity was subject to negotiation. And over time, I learned to quiet the colorful parts of myself and make peace with my dreams remaining dreams,” she said.
Her time came though, when she got to audition for ‘Glamorous’ as the show looked to cast “a gender-nonconforming queer Latino makeup fanatic.”
At the audition, she said she was encouraged to be herself and let her full femininity shine. Eventually, she was told that the role of Marco was hers.
“This was the first time in my life somebody looked at me and said, ‘Yes, it’s time for you,’” she added.
However, the show did not go smoothly with the series not going forward on its initial network alongside the pandemic.
Miss Benny said that at the time her “gender dysphoria was getting brutal,” and she “couldn’t run from myself anymore.”
“So, as time went by, I privately transitioned in my day-to-day life,” she shared. “It felt as if I had lived with a stuffy nose my whole life and then suddenly my breathing airways opened, and I discovered everybody else has been breathing freely the whole time.”
Luckily, though, Netflix picked up the series. Unfortunately for Miss Benny, however, she faced a new problem— she had been hired to play a boy, someone that she was not anymore.
But after a month of thinking, she met up with the creator of the show, Jordon Nardino, and told him about her transition. And it looked like lady luck was on her side because Nardino was on board with the idea of having her character transition alongside her transition in real life. Not only was Nardino supportive but it turns out Netflix was, too.
Miss Benny said that she worked closely with Nardino from that point forward to ensure the authenticity of Marco’s identity in the show.
“And it does feel authentic. It was really important that Marco’s trans-ness was not the plot of the show. It’s not a “twist” to surprise the audience,” she said. “Instead, we get to watch a young queer person experiencing first love and heartbreak, career success and failure, and everything else that comes with being a young adult while also discovering their identity in the background of life. Because being transgender is not something you do, it’s who you are.”
‘Glamorous’ follows Marco Mejia, Miss Benny’s character as he works at a beauty counter at a department store. Marco gets lucky after meeting Madolyn Addison (Kim Cattrall), a beauty mogul who eventually hires him to work as her assistant.
Marco begins by identifying as a gay man and, spoiler alert, visits a transgender specialist and identifies as trans at the end.
