Jenna Tea and her great-gran Katherine Photo: Screenshot Instagram
A 21-year-old makeup artist and drag performer has warmed hearts around the world with a recording of the moment she came out as trans to her Utah great-grandmother, Katherine.
The recording couldn’t be more moving or emotional. “I sobbed so much creating this,” Jenna Tea wrote on Instagram. The post has earned over a million views.
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Tea captured her great-gran’s words of wisdom on audio and set them to a sweet soundtrack with pictures and video from her childhood.
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Over a photo of the pair holding hands, Katherine tells Tea, “I guess it doesn’t matter to me if you’re male or female. Whoever is in there, I love.”
Tea came out as trans on social media in January and started hormone therapy three months later.
“Well, it’s your life, honey. You have to do what makes you happy,” Katherine advises her great-granddaughter in the video.
“It’s something that we have to adjust to, and sometimes, it’s hard for other people, but they’re not living your life. You are. It’s kind of their problem to readjust. And so, the best thing is to put it out there, deal with it, and it is what it is.”
“She always has been so supportive of me ever since I was a kid,” Tea told People. “She always knew I was different than other kids and always saw the difference as a good thing.”
“I always noticed that you had more of a softer side,” Katherine says in the post, “when you wanted dolls and not trucks and things. There were signs, but we never said anything to you because until you know, it’s not fair to say anything to you either. Because I don’t want you to be unhappy and struggle with this and let it destroy you because people are not accepting. They’re just idiots.”
“Well, I love you,” Jenna says.
“Well, I love you,” her great-gran replies.
While she was nervous sharing the news, Tea wrote, “I knew when I came out to her that it wasn’t going to be a bad reaction, and I am very lucky to be able to know that.”
She called Katherine “amazing.”
“At 89 years old I hope to be half the woman she is. So glamorous, so kind, so funny, SO accepting. “As a trans person I often get a lot of dysphoria, but sometimes when I look in the mirror, I see parts of her face in me, and that erases all of the fear and discomfort. She is such a rare and special soul and we need more people like her in the world, I am so lucky to call her Grandma. 🤍”
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