Comedian and actor Eddie Izzard, who also goes by the name Suzy Izzard, recently revealed that she knew she was trans at the age of five and has been living authentically ever since.
Suzy, 62, unpacked her experiences of living as a trans woman to presenter Steve Denyer in LGBTQ+ pop-up radio station, Virgin Radio Pride.
The iconic stand-up comic and actor disclosed on the radio show that she knew she had been trans since she was five-years-old but kept it a secret.
Suzy told Steve that she pushed herself to play football and ‘fit in with the boys’ in her boarding school in order to avoid scrutiny and various forms of potential harassment.
She said: “I was five when I knew I was trans. I loved playing football and I was very scrappy in school so no one said ‘you must be trans’. Kids are braver these days, I wasn’t at that point.”
Suzy lost her mother at six, and came out to her father around the same time that she came out publicly, back in 1985.
She continued: “I wasn’t going to live a lie. You never know how your parents will react, I’ve heard some horror stories. My dad said if mum was alive she would had been okay about it, that was a nice thing for me him to say.
“Some people and press were bemused, especially as I wrote trousers at that point. So I thought ‘I’ll throw on some makeup and a dress’. They still called me a mess, so I said ‘Ok, I’ve gotta work on that.’ ”
Reflecting on whether there has been shift in understanding or acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community, Suzy responded: “When I came out in ’85, there were no conversations about being trans. I was considered a non-person. I realised the conversations had to start.”
She continued: “I believe in the future, and hope we’ll get to a place where we will say ‘women’s rights are human rights and trans rights are human rights’. End of story.”
Suzy is currently on tour for her solo performance of Shakespeare’s Hamlet in London’s Riverside Studios until June 30.
