Born as a boy, Lepore always felt like she was in the wrong body. At the age of 15, she started receiving female hormones, and two years later, at 17, she had undergone a gender reassignment surgery.
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According to Lepore herself, her mother had a lot to do with how she saw herself. On the days when she felt sick, Lepore’s mother, who had schizophrenia and was eventually hospitalized, looked “terrible.” She didn’t wear any makeup and didn’t feel like dressing up, but on those days she felt better, well, that was a completely different story. She would put makeup and would visit a parlor, and that’s something which stuck in Lepore’s memory.
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“I associate glamour with being happy. If you put on high heels and lipstick or get a new outfit, you feel great,” she explained. “It’s a celebration of loving yourself, and the whole ritual of it is so great.”
Lepore’s father, who was an Italian-American, wasn’t happy with his son turning into a girl, but since he abandoned the family, Lepore saw it as a chance to do what she wished for her entire life.
