"A moment that changed me: I thought I was a lesbian. David Bowie made me realise the truth" [View all]

"In 2011, a couple of years before the David Bowie Is exhibition opened at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, I came out as a lesbian. Up until that point I had been exclusively dating men, one of whom I married. Two years later, I was in my early 40s, a newly separated mother of four children, living in the US. I had started to question my gender identity, as well as my sexual orientation, and was looking for some answers."

...

"I felt a momentary pang of empathy for the backing singers, with their heavy makeup, uncomfortable wigs and too-tight dresses. They appeared to feel as uncomfortable as I did in women’s clothes – irritated and impatient, as if they were longing for it all to be over. Just as I realised I was identifying with three men dressed in drag, one of them ripped off her wig, smeared the lipstick from her face, and revealed herself to be … Bowie! Shocker. (Of course, there were two other David Bowies as well.)

At that moment, I knew for certain that I wanted to rip it all off and become Bowie too. I wanted his narrow hips and his sharp haircut, his angular jaw and his flat chest; I wanted to embody the slim-silhouetted, Berlin-era Bowie. And yet I couldn’t, because to truly become Bowie, first I would need to be a man. Coming out as gay was one thing, but transitioning was a much more frightening prospect."

It's really worth the read.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/nov/05/a-moment-that-changed-me-i-thought-i-was-a-lesbian-david-bowie-made-me-realise-the-truth?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other