E! News: Since making your transition public, is there a moment that stands out as especially challenging?
Dylan Mulvaney: Around Day 10 I realized, Oh, now I see why a lot of trans people keep this as a very private process. Because, all of a sudden, I now have millions of people chiming in on what I should do, or what I look like, or what I should try. In some ways, that’s lovely, because I love having direction. But I also need to make sure I’m taking ownership of this transition and it doesn’t become owned by the public.
I also am nervous because people are starting to follow me as I look like now and a year or two from now I will look very differently. I just hope that these people can see me in a new light and accept me as that person as well. So, there are daunting things ahead and there have been so many challenges along the way.
E!: How do you deal with hearing all these opinions?
DM: I just constantly have to check in with myself and say, ‘Dylan, are you doing what you want to do? Are you looking the way you want to today?’ Sometimes I show myself not all dolled up, and that feels beautiful and vulnerable because I think there is a stigma, with trans women in particular, about always looking as feminine as possible. I want to open people’s minds to see women in a different light.
