LOS ANGELES, March 8 (UPI) — The “Matrix” and “Cloud Atlas” co-director Andy Wachowski has come out as transgender nearly four years after her brother Larry, now Lana, also transitioned to female.
Andy confirmed her new identity as Lilly to the Windy City Times Tuesday explaining she chose to speak out because the Daily Mail had threatened to expose her.
“SEX CHANGE SHOCKER — WACHOWSKI BROTHERS NOW SISTERS! There’s the headline I’ve been waiting for this past year,” Lilly said in a statement to the Times.
“Up until now with dread and/or eye rolling exasperation. The ‘news’ has almost come out a couple of times. Each was preceded by an ominous email from my agent — reporters have been asking for statements regarding the ‘Andy Wachowski gender transition’ story they were about to publish.
“In response to this threatened public outing against my will, I had a prepared a statement that was one part piss, one part vinegar and 12 parts gasoline. It had a lot of politically relevant insights regarding the dangers of outing trans people, and the statistical horrors of transgender suicide and murder rates. Not to mention a slightly sarcastic wrap-up that ‘revealed’ my father had injected praying mantis blood into his paternal ball-sac before conceiving each of his children to produce a brood of super-women, hell-bent on female domination. Okay, mega sarcastic.”
The Chicago native — who along with her sister has always avoided the spotlight despite their high-profile jobs — went on to say that just as she began to believe the press might leave her alone, a British journalist arrived on her doorstep and demanded she tell him her story on the record.
“Being transgender is not easy. We live in a majority-enforced gender binary world. This means when you’re transgender you have to face the hard reality of living the rest of your life in a world that is openly hostile to you,” Lilly explained. “I am one of the lucky ones. Having the support of my family and the means to afford doctors and therapists has given me the chance to actually survive this process. Transgender people without support, means and privilege do not have this luxury. …
“So yeah, I’m transgender. And yeah, I’ve transitioned,” Lilly said.
Lilly and Lana are both writer-director-producers who have also worked on the films “Bound,” “V for Vendetta,” “Speed Racer” and “Jupiter Ascending,” as well as the Netflix series “Sense8.”
