14 DAY TRIAL // For the first time since the controversy around a beauty pageant hopeful booted from Miss Universe Canada for being born a boy began, Jenna Talackova, the model in question, speaks up on the whole thing.
Jenna, her mother and her celebrity attorney Gloria Allred sat down for an interview on 20/20 with Barbara Walters – and you can see a preview of the it below.
Looking at the 23-year-old tall, slender and beautiful model, you would probably not even guess she was born a boy and used to go by the name of Walter.
At 14, Jenna already knew she had been born in the wrong body and had already started therapy to establish whether gender-reassignment was necessary.
“As soon as I was conscious, I just always knew that I was not what they were saying. It wasn’t right. I thought that I was in the wrong body,” she tells Walters.
Going through the procedure of becoming a woman was no walk in the park, that much is sure, but it was a very rewarding experience in the end, Jenna reveals.
“It was terribly painful, but seeing something on your body for that long and not being able to look at myself in the mirror because I couldn’t stand seeing the other part, it was actually very rewarding, too,” the beauty says.
Her mother has long come to terms with the fact that her boy is no longer one. She tells Walters she always wanted a daughter but had made her peace with knowing she had 4 boys when Walter told her he'd be Jenna.
As noted above, the model's attorney, Allred, who has already won one victory in the battle when Donald Trump, who owns the Miss Universe beauty pageant, overturned the initial ruling, was also invited on the show.
She says she agreed to represent Jenna because, deep down in her heart, she knew an injustice had been done to her when organizers included the “contestants must be born female” rule for all hopefuls.
That rule is no longer standing – and the 23-year-old blonde says she's happy she could do something to change the lives of others for the better.
“I feel like the universe, the creator just put me in this position as an advocate. And now it’s like this, and I’ll take that position. If it’s helping anybody else, my story and my actions, then I feel great about it,” Jenna says.
