Androgynous Model Comes Out as Transgender

Andreja Pejic was formerly Andrej Pejic
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 25, 2014 2:06 PM CDT
Androgynous Model Comes Out as Transgender
Serbian Australian model Andrej Pejic wears a creation by Auslander during the Fashion Rio Summer 2012 collection in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, June 4, 2011.   (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

The fomer Andrej Pejic—the gender-bending model who took the fashion world by storm in 2011—is now Andreja Pejic. Pejic came out as a transgender woman via stories on People, Entertainment Tonight, and Style, as noticed by Jezebel. The 22-year-old had sex reassignment surgery this year, and "I want to share my story with the world because I think I have a social responsibility," she says. "I hope that by being open about this, it becomes less of an issue."

The Serbian-born model says she "dreamt of being a girl" from childhood, but when she moved with her family to Australia, she started to get "a social message" that she should act more like a boy. She did, but nonetheless started researching what were then called "sex changes" at age 13. "The Internet gave me the sense that there were words to describe my feelings and medical terms," she says. She started by taking puberty blockers, and was discovered by an agent at 17. She used to model both men's and women's fashions, but now, she says, "I have to be true to myself." (More Andrej Pejic stories.)

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