“I’m finally happy after my third sex change”

Following three gender-swap ops – from man to woman, to man again, then back to a woman – Samantha Kane now feels like her true self

After years of A confusion, Samantha Kane is finally happy to be a woman. But it’s not been an easy journey for the 58-year-old lawyer and author. Samantha was born a man and has changed sex an astonishing three times – from man to woman, woman to man and back to a woman again.

And now, after spending over £150,000 on sex changes over two decades, Samantha insists there’ll be no more surgery.

She explains, “When I first transitioned, back in the ’90s, I lost my friends, my family and my children disowned me. There was no such thing as LGBT rights and I felt I had no choice but to return to being a man.

“However, nine years later, I reconnected with my son. He told me he’d love me regardless of my gender. It gave me the courage to live as a woman again. So I had my third round of gender reassignment surgery. Now, after all these years, I’m finally happy.”

Born as a boy called Sam Hashimi in Iraq to traditional parents, he was a successful businessman and lawyer when he moved to the UK in his mid-twenties.

Samantha recalls, “I felt like a girl from a young age. But my culture meant I had to suppress it, so I became as macho as possible. I made a lot of money, drove fast cars and had pretty girlfriends. I’ve always been sexually fluid – fancying both men and women – but I felt uncomfortable in my skin as a man.”

FEELING LOST

Sam married a British woman, Trudi, in 1984 and they had a son and daughter, now in their 30s. However, when the marriage broke down in 1992, Sam was finally forced to confront his true identity.

Samantha now explains, “I was very lost and there was no internet then, so I went to transsexual clubs to ask questions. So many people said that transitioning to a woman was the best thing they’d ever done.”

So in 1997, Sam began dressing as a woman in public. Six months later, without undergoing any counselling, he spent £100,000 of his savings on private gender reassignment surgery to remove his male genitalia. He also had breast implants, a nose job, teeth veneers, as well as painful surgery to remove his Adam’s apple and tighten his vocal chords.

She explains, “I wore lots of make-up, sexy clothes and changed my walk and voice. But my parents were so disappointed, and I lost contact with my children