“Know thyself” is one of those timeless sayings that isn’t as easy in practice as it seems — and it can be decidedly more difficult for some of us.
Rodrigo Alves has always been chasing a body that seemed to be just over the horizon, leading to more than 70 plastic surgeries before the age of 35 and a well-known personality as the ‘Human Ken Doll.’
It looks like more surgeries are planned now as well, as Alves unveiled a new look and new, more honest self-image that’s more in line with Barbie than Ken, coming out as transgender.
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Gone is Rodrigo — Roddy, with “she/her” pronouns, is here, and she says she couldn’t be happier about it.
Speaking with The Mirror , the 36-year-old said that “It feels amazing to finally tell the world I’m a girl.
“I’m known as Ken, but inside I’ve always felt like Barbie. I finally feel like the real me, glamorous, beautiful, and feminine.”
Alves said that the transition started a year ago after a photo shoot in New York.
She had been asked to wear women’s clothing during the shoot and kept it afterwards, wearing it at home as well.
“It was an awakening. It finally all became clear to me. I came back to the UK and made an appointment with my GP, who referred me to a psychologist and psychiatrist,” she said. “Within a month, I was diagnosed with gender dysmorphic disorder and given the option to start the appropriate medication to transition.”
It’s clear that Alves has long been at odds with her body.
She said that when she was growing up in Brazil, she would often try on her mom’s clothes and played with feminine toys.
Indeed, even one of her first plastic surgeries was a breast reduction because her body produced more estrogen than the average male, causing her to grow breasts.
After that first plastic surgery, she chased an ideal of manhood through more and more procedures.
“For years I tried to live my life as a man,” she said. “I had a fake six pack put in, I had fake muscles in my arms, but I was lying to myself.
“I have tried my best to behave like a man but deep inside I was never happy. I would see a beautiful woman and feel jealous because I wanted to be like them. I think like a woman, I act like a woman because I have always been one deep inside.”
Following that awakening, Alves threw herself into her transition.
“It’s God’s will for me to be female,” she told the Daily Mail . “I feel like he wanted to use me as an instrument to teach others about being trans.”
It hasn’t been easy, but she’s been working at it. “Behind closed doors, I’ve been living as a woman for the last three months,” she said. “I love it and everything that comes with it — going to nice hair salons and getting my nails, eyebrows and eyelashes done. Buying dresses and high heels and wearing sexy lingerie.”
So far, she hasn’t done much surgically to confirm her transition.
She’s taking hormones under her doctor’s care, and she says that her “skin is already softer and my breasts are bigger. I plan to have a boob job, feminization surgery, and finally I will have a full gender reassignment.”
Alves says that she’s received lots of support since coming out.
“My mum was worried that I will need to have more surgery than that I was transitioning,” she said. “My sister said she hopes I will look like her now I’m a woman.”
She added that it’s not just her family members being supportive and that she gets “lots of attention.”
“Men look at me because they desire me. And women look at me because they want to copy what I’m wearing. It’s a totally different type of attention.”
h/t: The Mirror , Daily Mail
