Chloe Cole

I have to suffer lifelong consequences for what I went through as a child.

I wasn't helped by the adults around me when I needed it most, but I've been able to rise above that and use this pain that I go through every day to ensure that no other child will ever go through what I have ever again.

And I have been able, in spite of everything, to embrace everything that God has given me.

Well, thanks a whole lot for welcoming me on the show.

I'm really happy to be on, and I'm grateful that you're giving me your platform to be able to talk about my experiences.

So I'm somebody who has gone through the process of a medical and gender transition during my childhood, between the ages of 12 to 16.

I started believing that I was a boy at 12 years old after years of just being a pretty ordinary tomboy, all things considered.

I liked playing video games.

I liked going out into the world and adventuring, but I was also very creative.

Yeah.

Yeah, I'm from NorCal.

I mean, nothing was particularly different about me other than the fact that I was a little bit shy and I found it difficult to connect with other people for a pretty good portion of my life, actually.

I just didn't really know how to socialize with people.

But I never really saw the things that made me different as things that took away from my character or my worth until...

Around the time that I started to hit puberty, which was a little bit earlier than most, I was about eight or nine when I started to physically develop.

And so there was, as you can imagine, a lot of uncomfortable attention that came with that, that I just, it made me very uncomfortable in my skin.

Right.

And I mean, being one of the first to develop in my class, like both, both boys and girls, and even sometimes like teachers and like adults outside of my family would comment on like my, my curves or whatever else was happening to my body.

And when you're at that age, like,

It's a lot more pressure than just to go through it normally, I think.