Jamie Lee Curtis has spoken of the learning experience she is undergoing after her daughter came out as transgender.
Ruby, who is Jamie’s youngest daughter with husband Christopher Guest, came out to her parents last year, which she described as “scary”.
In a new interview with People, the Hollywood star said she is a “grateful student” as she learns “new terminology and words”.
Jamie told the magazine: “I am new at it. I am not someone who is pretending to know much about it. And I’m going to blow it, I’m going to make mistakes. I would like to try to avoid making big mistakes.
“You slow your speech down a little. You become a little more mindful about what you’re saying. How you’re saying it. You still mess up, I’ve messed up today twice. We’re human.
“But if one person reads this, sees a picture of Ruby and me and says, ‘I feel free to say this is who I am,’ then it’s worth it.”
Speaking about coming out to her parents, Ruby admitted it was “intimidating”.
“Just the sheer fact of telling them something about me they didn’t know,” the 25-year-old said.
“But I wasn’t worried. They had been so accepting of me my entire life.”
Jamie, who revealed Ruby is trans in an interview in July, said she never had an “inkling that Ruby was trans”.
“I knew Ruby had had a boyfriend. I knew that Ruby had used the word bi. But gender identity and sexual orientation — those are two separate things,” she explained.
“And I knew that Ruby played female avatars in video games. But when you ask, ‘Did you have an inkling that Ruby was trans?’ I would say no. But when I replayed Ruby’s life, I went, ‘Hmm, that, that, those, hmm.’”
Ruby added that after years of avoiding the spotlight she is now “happy to be more visible if it helps others”.
“Yeah, no one knows anything about me, and I’ve tried my best until now to keep it that way. But I’m happy to talk about my experiences now,” she said.
“Is it helpful to come out? Yeah. Like, people will still remember me for who I was, but I haven’t changed that. They finally get to see who I’ve always been, you know, inside, but now I finally get to show it on the outside.”
Help and support:
- The Gender Trust supports anyone affected by gender identity | 01527 894 838
- Mermaids offers information, support, friendship and shared experiences for young people with gender identity issues | 0208 1234819
- LGBT Youth Scotland is the largest youth and community-based organisation for LGBT people in Scotland. Text 07786 202 370
- Gires provides information for trans people, their families and professionals who care for them | 01372 801554
- Depend provides support, advice and information for anyone who knows, or is related to, a transsexual person in the UK
