NEWS

Lana Wachowski recently made her first official on-screen appearance since transitioning from male to female in a video promoting her upcoming movie Cloud Atlas, which she directed alongside brother Andy and Tom Twyker. Now she’s given her first interview about the difficulties she faced while changing genders.

Talking to the New Yorker, she says, “For years, I couldn’t even say the words ‘transgendered’ or ‘transexual’. When I began to admit it to myself, I knew that I would eventually have to tell my parents, and my brother and my sisters. The fact would inject such terror in me that I would not sleep for days.”

However since starting to live as a woman and openly accepting her sexuality, she’s found greater contentment, saying, “I chose to change my exterior to bring it closer into alignment with my interior… My biggest fears were all about losing my family. Once they accepted me, everything else has been a piece of cake.”

It’s not a complete tell-all though, as she says, ”I know that many people are dying to know if I have a surgically constructed vagina or not, but I prefer to keep this information between my wife and me.”

While the major aspects of Lana’s transition were complete by 2007, this is the first time she’s spoken about it. Indeed, ever since the first Matrix movie, both Wachowski siblings have notoriously shied away from interviews and publicity, although the seemingly now much happier Lana appears to be embracing appearing on screen and talking to journalists in a way she hasn’t for the past decade.

Cloud Atlas opens in the UK on March 22nd, 2013.