DJ Simon Hirst has shocked fans by announcing he is having a sex change operation after years of seeing himself as a woman trapped in a man's body.
He has already begun hormone treatment, has grown his hair, and has already changed his name by deed poll to Stephanie.
The broadcaster, who quit his Capital radio show Hirsty's Daily Dose in June, made the announcement tonight on BBC Radio 5 Live in an interview with the journalist Stephen Nolan. In the interview he said there had been many times on air where he had almost blurted out that he was transgender.
He said he felt like a square peg in a round hole. He described being a child and trying a little girl's roller-skates on and it just 'feeling right', and about trying on his mum's clothes and makeup.
"Back then, as a child, something felt right, it felt better.
"It didn't turn me on. It just felt better." He said he would walk around on his own at night, aged 12, wearing his mum's shoes. He said he had been in denial for years and that his radio career had been a distraction to him, but had looked forward to making the announcement.
"I knew I would do this one day, it was just courage. But radio was such a huge thing for me. That was the fix." He said he had discussed his feelings with his mum before she died last year, but only discussed it for the first time with his dad earlier this year. He said his dad had been 'wonderful' saying: "You're my child. As long as you're happy."
He said he had received lots of support and 'every single person' he had told had been accepting.
He said: "We don't change. Yes, the exterior changes, but we're still the same people. We love people, we care for people.
"We should be accepted. We're just human beings, we come in different shapes, sizes, colours, whatever."
Hirsty had previously worked on Hallam FM, and for a time presented the Big Top 40 show, broadcast on independent radio stations across the country, when he rubbed shoulders with all the music industry's top A list stars.
Full story to follow in next Friday's Chronicle.
