Wentworth star ‘I was s born a boy’
Actresstress Daniielle finally feels free to shareare her secret writes
Daniielle Alexis couldn’t be more excited to tell her story.
“Thank goodness yo you’re here – I’ve been waiting m my whole hole life for this!” Daniielle ex exclaimsms when Woman’s Day ar arrivess at her home in Perth.
Daniielle iielle stars as Dana Malouf, th the new w inmate in Season Five of th the hit prison drama Wentworth. A And her er debut TV role has given he her the e confidence to reveal a se secret she’s long been keeping.
“My original name was Shayne an and I was born a boy,” she says im immediately, diately, relief creeping ac across her face. “And I can finally sa say thatat name and feel safe that I’m nott about to get teased.”
It’s been a long road to this po point for the 31-year-old actress.
“I’ve e felt like a girl on the inside fr from the he very start,” admits Danii, w who jugglesuggles a part-time job as a gym manager in the Pilbarra in northern ern WA with her acting career in Melbourne.
“Mum m understood and never tried to o change me. I grew my hair, wore colourful clothing,
NATALEE FUHRMANN
collected My Little Ponies and was dancing and performing fromwhenfrom when I was four.
“Dad, however, never supported my feminine pursuits, and when he bought me a yellow boy’s mountain bike for my fifth birthday, I bawled my eyes out, wondering why I was being punished. He got annoyed and thought I was ungrateful, but it was his way of trying to get me thinking like a boy.”
It didn’t work and soon after, Shayne told his mother that when he grew up, he was going to be a girl.
By Year Seven, he felt different from his peers. His hair was long, he used the disabled bathrooms and he always sat down on the toilet. During puberty, Shayne didn’t grow body hair, failed to develop an Adam’s apple and began growing breast tissue – a phenomenon his doctor dismissed as “teenage puppy fat”. Danii says her peers didn’t
accept her. “When I dressed as a girl and wore makeup, I knew it needed to happen behind closed doors.
“I was nudged and rammed into school corridors daily, and all I wanted to say was, ‘Stop, I’m a girl.’ I knew I had male genitalia, but I felt I was a girl.”
Tormented and scared, acting was Shayne’s escape during his troubled teen years. He was instructed by Tiffany Edwards [aka Maureen Bates], the first wife of Bee Gee Barry Gibb. “I just loved performing and must have been pretty good, as Tiffany told me one day I’d be famous,” says Danii.
After high school Shayne officially began the journey to
‘I’ve felt like a girl on the inside from the very start’
womanhood and started having hormone therapy.
“I also announced to my mum that I was transgender and going to have sexual reassignment surgery,” says Danii, who was blown away by her mum Leonie’s response.
“She said, ‘I have been waiting your whole life for you to say that, let’s go. Here’s the money to do it – I’ve been saving, along with your grandfather.’ “I cried for days afterwards and thank the universe for my mum. I am alive because of her.” With breast an and penile reassignment su surgery now behind her, Dan Daniielle says she’s never been happier.happ And she’s more confident about pursuing acting, inspired b by stars such as Bruce Jenner, whowh publicly became Caitlyn in 2015, and fellow Aussie JessicaJ Marais, who played the titular character i in Carlotta, a telemovietelemov about one of the fir first people in Australi Australia to undergo sex reassign reassignment surgery. “I emailedema every produce producer in Australia, and Freman Fremantle Media offered me Wentworth,”W she says. “It feels amazing and I am so grateful. My social media hasha gone up by thousands,th even ElleEl Macpherson andan Cheyenne TozziTo are fans.” Danii, who is currentlycu single, is a also looking forw forward to starting a fa family of her own. “M “My sexual function is lik like that of a person born female,” she expla explains. “I obviously don’t menstruate and can’tc have a baby, but I p plan on being a moth mother through surrog surrogacy one day. “My path of pain has be been worth it and I love t the fact I’m a face of dive diversity in this countr country now.”