Teddy Geiger Opens Up About Her Transition a Year Later: 'I Was Born Uncomfortable'
One year after announcing her transition, Teddy Geiger is getting candid about her life.
The musician and producer, 30 — who recently revealed that she is engaged to actress Emily Hampshire — opened up to Rolling Stone about how her 15-year-long career in the music industry has personally affected her.
“It’s funny. Some people now are like, ‘Why would you transition? Why can’t you just be comfortable how you were born?’ ” Geiger recently told the publication. “That was my logic, but at a certain point, I realized that I was born uncomfortable. I was born in this in-between where I want to express one way.”
Video: Teddy Geiger Talks New Music And Coming Out As Transgender
Geiger began her transition from male to female in fall 2017, but presenting more femme in public was something that she struggled with for a while. The songwriter explained that she would often confide in her ex-girlfriends, paint her nails and dress up in private with them until she became comfortable enough to do it in public.
“I didn’t know anyone who was trans,” she admitted. “I had very little connection to that, so it wasn’t really until maybe three years ago I started actually painting my nails and going out. Nobody cared if I was femme.”
But deep down for the musician — who has written hits for Shawn Mendes and One Direction — she always knew who she was.
“Nobody really knew me, and all of this stuff that now on a day to day basis I don’t have to deal with,” she said. “It is a huge weight lifted.”
Over the summer, Geiger opened up about her transition with the New York Times, explaining that she knew she felt like a girl from a young age.
“I can remember back to being 5 and looking in the mirror, feeling like a girl and wanting that,” the New York native told the newspaper. “But growing up in Rochester, there were limited resources. I’d never met a trans person before.”
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Geiger also recently told Paper magazine in November that expressing her femme side would often cause issues in her intimate relationships.
“I started painting my nails and started wearing some women’s clothing, but that whole side of me always caused problems in my intimate relationships. There was a lot of shame attached to it,” Geiger revealed. “I’d talk to people I was dating about it but still feel ashamed.”
“Generally it would be fine at first, but then as time went on they’d maybe not be as cool with it as they thought they were,” she added.
But those problems were cut short when she met her now-fiancée Hampshire.
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“It’s very different when you’re being yourself and your friends know who you are. I’m not carrying this weight around anymore. I’m not ashamed of myself,” she continued to Paper magazine. “I’m not angry at myself for being this way.”
The pair made their first red carpet appearance together in September during the Toronto International Film Festival and were engaged weeks later.
“I love this woman so much she treats me like a lil princess and makes me laugh harder than anyone. I am so f—ing happy to wake up next to her every morning and fall asleep next to her every night and take care of our lil B.B. stumbs together,” Geiger wrote on Instagram on Nov. 10, adding, “Which is why… When she asked me if I wanted to spend the rest of our lives together I said… YES … INFINITE YES.”
