‘I was having a much better time as a girl in that parallel life’: how an app sparked a late-life gender transition

In an extract from her memoir, Lucy Sante reveals how she lived with the feeling of being the wrong gender into her 60s, when a smartphone app gave her the inspiration to take action

• This secret that crippled me for 50 years has been lifted': read a Q&A with Lucy Sante here

Between 28 February and 1 March 2021, I sent the following text as an email attachment to around 30 people I considered my closest friends. The subject line was: A bombshell." I smirked at the unintentional pun and wondered whether anyone else would. It was simply titled: Lucy."

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