Comedian and activist Eddie Izzard has said she has known she is transgender from the age of around four.
Preferring to go by the pronouns, ‘she’ and ‘her’, the star, 58, said the notion that she ‘recently came out is ridiculous’ and notes she’s ‘been through hell since 1985.’
Talking to The Big Issue, Eddie said her gender-fluidity has been a big feature of her 40-year career in comedy.
‘I’ve known I was trans since I was aged four’: Eddie Izzard has claimed the notion she ‘recently came out is ridiculous’ and admitted she’s ‘been through hell’ since 1985 (pictured in December)
In December, she appeared on the Sky Arts programme Portrait Artist of the Year and said she wanted ‘to be based in girl-mode from now on.’
Eddie admitted she couldn’t believe that some were surprised by her words because she has felt this way since childhood.
She said: ‘I’ve known I was trans since I was four or five. My feelings from the age of five have not moved an inch. Have not moved a centimetre, a millimetre even.
Wow! Eddie is mid-way through a 31 marathon challenge, running 31 marathons in 31 days on a treadmill as part of her ‘Make Humanity Great Again’ campaign.
‘Thirty-five years ago, I came out. The rest is language. I went through such hell since ’85 that the idea that I’ve come out recently just sounds ridiculous.’
Eddie is using her time in lockdown for an extremely good cause.
She is mid-way through a 31 marathon challenge, running 31 marathons in 31 days on a treadmill as part of her ‘Make Humanity Great Again’ campaign.
The first five charities to benefit are Fareshare, Walking With the Wounded, Care International, United to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases and Covenant House New York City.
Eddie said: ‘It’s a positive thing at a time that’s very negative. People are having a very tough time. And the money raised goes into charities that make humanity great.
‘So I think everyone will be positive about this, except the extreme right wing who will hate it.’
Call me Eddie! Appearing on Lorraine last week, Eddie said her wish to be given female pronouns, was a ‘request, not a demand’
She continued: ‘Churchill’s generation was chosen by fate to fight against the extreme right. And our generation has been chosen again to fight against the extreme right.
‘So that’s the way it’s going to be. This is our fight. This is a fight for people, for our place, our continent, for our world. For humanity. The fight is now and so we have to step up to the plate.’
Eddie believes Trump’s defeat is a positive sign for the future, saying: ‘I feel a corner is turning, a tide is changing.’
Appearing on Lorraine last week, Eddie said her wish to be given female pronouns, was a ‘request, not a demand.’
Eddie told the host: ‘There is a request, but it is never a demand or an insistence. I was asked and I said “I would quite like to be known as she because I’m in girl mode”.’
‘Some people twist that and some people get het up about it.
‘They say, “Are you serious about being trans because we just didn’t know for 35 years?” If people have a problem, just call me Eddie. It is no big deal for me.
‘I am gender fluid, I do all my dramatic roles in boy mode.’
Read more from Eddie Izzard in this week’s edition of The Big Issue. Subscribe to get the magazine through the Big issue app, or to get the print edition through your door.
To follow Eddie’s progress, donate to the charity appeal, www.eddieizzard.com
Eddie told the host: ‘There is a request, but it is never a demand or an insist’ce. I was asked and I said “I would quite like to be known as she because I’m in girl mode”.’