When Clive decided he wanted to live as a woman he had no idea how to tell his friends and family.
Because of this he decided to pen a letter to his nearest and dearest explaining how he wanted to live as a woman called Claire and no longer be Clive.
In the letter, the father of two talks candidly about his gender confusion and how he’s lived with the secret for as long as he can remember. This week, Claire’s true sex change story can be read in Chat magazine.
Although it was a shock, all his family and friends have been supportive – including his two children, Christopher, 19 and Lucy, now 17.
Today, he is living as Claire and after two years on hormones, is due to under gender realignment surgery this year. Growing up, Clive, now 45, a nurse from Truro, Cornwall, knew he was different from his peers. At 11 years old, when his parents were out, he sneaked into his mum’s bedroom and tried on a few of her dresses.
After school he went to work with a friend in a motorcycle business. He did this for a year before he started nursing training, where he met Angi. They had a whirlwind romance and within a few months they were engaged and living together. One day they were driving along when Angi was talking about her clothes. Clive says he got jealous and blurted out that he wanted to dress as a woman. She was shocked, but she decided to stand by him as long as he didn’t do it around her and kept it a secret from everyone, including their children.
For eight years, Clive snuck around putting on women’s clothes when Angi and the kids were out of the house and would go out dressed as a woman once a month. And in 2000, Angi turned and told him that she’d support him living as ‘Claire’ more often. After that, the pair used to go shopping together and out for the day whilst Clive dressed as a woman.
But there were rules and Clive was not allowed to tell the children until they were 18 and only if they asked. In August 2008, Clive went to see a doctor about gender realignment surgery. But he decided not to go ahead with the surgery because his kids were sitting their GCSEs.
In April 2012, he thought a neighbour had seen him dressed as a woman. It was around this time he decided he could no longer live a lie and went back to his doctor.
He decided to write a moving two page letter to his family and friends explaining he was transgender and was going to be become a woman. He sent it first class so everyone would get it at the same time. He also told them his 20 year marriage was over to Angi.
He’s been taking oestrogen and says he’s now a B cup. He’s also undergone laser hair removal on his face. He is due to have gender realignment surgery this year.
We secured Claire a deal with Chat magazine for her true sex change story. If you’ve got a true sex change story that you’d like to share with a woman’s magazine or national newspaper, email us on message@talktothepress.com or fill out the sell my story form on the right.
