9 Celebrities Who Changed Their Gender and Are Enjoying It

These nine celebrities did not just change their lives, they changed how the world saw them too. Their stories mix fame, identity, and the pressure of living publicly while making deeply personal decisions.

From athletes and musicians to models and TV personalities, each one took a different path through gender transition and kept going in the spotlight. That kind of visibility can make every step feel bigger, especially when the whole world is watching.

Here is a look at the stars who embraced who they are and kept moving forward.

1. Balian Buschbaum

Balian Buschbaum, formerly Yvonne Buschbaum, is a former German pole vaulter who won the German pole vault championship and set the record in 1999. Buschbaum revealed in November 2007 that he was retiring from the sport due to a recurring injury and that he wanted to undergo gender transformation treatment.

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Formerly Yvonne Buschbaum

© buschbaumbalian / instagram

2. Geena Rocero

Geena Rocero is a transgender advocate and the founder of Gender Proud, a video production firm that advocates for justice, equality, and trans rights. Geena Rocero was primarily known as a successful model before she came out. She is now a spokesperson for the fight for LGBTQIA rights.

© Geena Rocero / Ted Talks, © geenarocero / instagram

She is known for her 2014 TED talk in which she publicly revealed, for the first time, that she had been born a boy.

© Geena Rocero / Ted Talks, © geenarocero / instagram

That reveal made her story even more widely known.

3. Laura Jane Grace

Laura Jane Grace (born Thomas James Gabel) is a member of the American punk rock band Against Me! She is a singer and guitarist. Laura declared her plans to live openly as a transgender woman in a Rolling Stone interview in 2012. "Transgender Dysphoria Blues," the band's sixth studio album, was released in 2014 after a protracted period of lineup changes and transformations.

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Born Thomas James Gabel

© laurajanegrace / instagram

4. Jazz Jennings

Jazz Jennings is a teenage LGBT rights activist, a YouTuber, and a spokesmodel. After being removed from the girls' bathroom at school when she was nine, she began to raise awareness about the misunderstandings and discrimination faced by transgender individuals.

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Jennings and her parents founded the TransKids Purple Rainbow Foundation

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Her family has been part of the story from the start.

This is the same kind of tension as the etiquette question about sharing pregnancy news before a friend’s gender reveal.

5. Aydian Dowling

Aydian Dowling is a popular YouTuber, bodybuilder, transgender activist, co-founder of a volunteer organization called PointofPride.org, a transgender rights campaigner, and a loving husband and parent. Aydian was the first transgender man to appear on the cover of Men's Health magazine's collector's edition, as well as the first transgender male to appear on the cover of Gay Times magazine.

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On his channel, Dowling shares fitness tips and insights about sports for transgender people.

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6. Alexandra Billings

Alexandra Billings is an award-winning stage and film actor, a respected theater educator, and an AIDS and LGBT activist from the United States. Billings is also one of the few actors who have portrayed a transgender character on television, having appeared in "Grey's Anatomy," "How To Get Away With Murder," and "Transparent."

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Alexandra earned the Human Rights Campaign Visibility Award in 2016 for her contributions to the LGBTQ community.

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Recognition followed after years in the public eye.

7. Lea T

Leandra Medeiros Cerezo, better known as Lea T, is a transgender fashion model, a pop culture phenomenon, and a transgender campaigner. She is the star of Givenchy's most talked-about ad campaign. Toninho Cerezo, a well-known Brazilian football player, is her father.

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She is the first openly transgender person to appear in an Olympic Games opening ceremony.

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8. Lana Wachowski

Lana Wachowski is the first prominent Hollywood director to come out as transgender. Lana Wachowski's brother, Lilly Wachowski, came out as a transgender woman a few years later, in 2016.

© Bob Riha Jr / Contributor / Getty Images, © Jason Merritt / Staff / Getty Images

In October 2012, she received the Human Rights Campaign's Visibility Award.

© Paul A. Hebert/Invision/AP/East News

That honor added to an already influential career.

9. Conchita Wurst

Because Conchita Wurst (also known as Thomas Neuwirth) is more of a stage persona, there is no before-and-after regarding sex reassignment surgery. She became a major influencer and media celebrity after winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 2014, bringing crucial LGBT and transgender-related issues to the international stage.

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She won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2014.

© conchitawurst / instagram

One of the many benefits of the technological and medical breakthroughs we have witnessed in the last 50 years is that they enable so many people to live their best lives. Of course, the whole process is lengthy and challenging.

But judging by these individuals’ smiling faces, it’s totally worth it.

These stars made their own path and owned it.

Want another celebrity reality check? See how Christina Applegate’s MS side effect stopped her from facing her reflection for a year.