Chaz Bono Talks Sex, Puberty and Shaving

Filed under: Music News, Health Issues, TV News

Chaz Bono is in the midst of physically becoming a man and is opening up in a two-part interview with Entertainment Tonight (to air Oct 29 and 30) to discuss sex reassignment surgery and facing puberty at age 40. In a statement released (via Huffington Post), Bono reveals, "I believe that gender is something between your ears not between your legs. That is something I discovered in the early '90s. It was just a long process of being comfortable enough to do something about it. I was turning 40, and I thought it's now or never. I want to still feel vibrant and be able to enjoy my life in a male body and not wait until I am an old man."
Cher's son started taking male hormones in March and noted several physical changes right away. "It lowered my voice. Fat redistributes, muscle growth, hair growth, sex drive increases. It doesn't change anything mentally and emotionally. [I'm] still not anywhere near what I will look like but really for the first time I am feeling much more comfortable with how I look physically... I always felt like the male from the time I was a child. There wasn't much feminine about me."

The physical changes will take about four to five years to complete, and Bono is okay with that. "I'll be on testosterone for the rest of my life. The nice thing about this process is it is slow. I am literally going through puberty."

Bono admits he was really excited the first time he could shave his face. "I shave about once a week now. It kind of started to come in just like peach fuzz. I always wanted to shave. It is a very natural process. For my birthday I got a lot of shaving stuff."

The biggest change occured when he underwent a very emotional surgery to remove his breasts. "Most people call it top surgery. The construction of the male chest from a female chest. When I went through puberty and started to grow breasts, it was very uncomfortable and emotional." When asked if he plans to undergo further surgery, he replied, "That's a personal decision and I don't really feel comfortable talking about anything below the waist."

Bono admits he can't personally speak for his mother Cher, but everyone close to him has been nothing but supportive. "The people in my life are just happy that I'm doing this and seeing the positive effect that its having on me," he said.

In June, Cher made her first public statement (via PEOPLE) since Chaz announced that he was undergoing a sex change. Cher said that Chaz is going through "a difficult journey, but one that I will support," and that she respects "the courage it takes to go through this transition in the glare of public scrutiny, and although I may not understand, I will strive to be understanding."

As the sex reassignment continues, he hopes that his life experience will help others. "[I'm] trying to use my life experience to educate people. I feel more like myself more than I ever felt. I feel happier and more confident. I used to live most of my life in my head because I was so uncomfortable in my body. The most important thing about this for me is that my outsides are finally starting to match my insides. I feel like I'm living in my body for the first time and it feels really good."