Trans teen finally gets to live her life looking like her idol
A transgender teen, who struggle with her identity, is finally getting to live her life the way she wants and modelled her look on her idol, Kim Kardashian.
With her glossy black hair and expertly contoured face, 15-year-old Kairah Kelly looks like the famous big bottomed reality star’s doppelganger and said some of her teachers didn’t even recogniser her.
She said: “I felt really strange and different. I’d look in the mirror and the person I saw was a stranger.
“I’d imagine myself in skirts and dresses when I was as young as eight years old.
“Now when I look in the mirror I see myself.
“I was so nervous when I turned up for my first day on September 5th but I didn’t need to be.
“Everyone was so supportive and happy for me.”
Felling something was different as a boy, Kairah would roam around the family home wearing make-up, nail varnish and heels.
But her devout Christian step-dad Chris, 49, and mum Angela, 30, put a stop to it when they found out, fearing neighbours would gossip.
“They didn’t understand what I was,” Kairah, of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire said.
“We lived in a rough area and they thought I would be bullied.”
Their reaction left the youngster feeling isolated, finding it hard to fit in with boys at school, as she hated football and wearing male clothes.
Her closest friends were girls – but she was envious of their make-up, long hair and clothes.
At 11, Kairah (who was known as Tyler at the time) came out as bisexual – then as gay to family and friends two years later.
Supportive Angela allowed Kairah to wear make-up outside of school but it wasn’t enough for the teen.
“I didn’t feel confident after coming out as gay,” said Kairah. “I felt like there was something missing.”
At 14, while watching a YouTube make-up tutorial, Kairah found a video about a transgender woman.
The YouTuber spoke about feeling trapped in the wrong body – and she felt instant identification.
Terrified of what her parents would think, she confided in his best friend in January 2015.
In a Geography lesson, the pair drafted a text message to her mum.
Kairah said: “I didn’t know how she’d react in person.
“I wrote that message four times, and when I got home I felt different.
“She was really supportive, telling my dad that night.
“He was accepting. The next morning he told me he loved me for who I was.”
In September 2015, Kairah published a post on Facebook announcing she was transgender and changing her name to Kairah.
She has been referred for gender identity treatment and hopes to start taking hormone blockers soon.
And she wasted no time in emulating her female role model, Kim Kardashian.
She has swapped jumpers and tracksuits for skinny jeans, skimpy dresses and colourful tops.
After adding extensions to her long black hair and wearing a full face of make-up, she is a dead ringer for the reality star, whose initials ‘KK’ match her own.
While she has been wowing friends with her glamorous outfits outside school, Kairah still dressed as a boy for classes until now.
She said: “I dress as Kim Kardashian all the time, I put a full face of make-up on and it makes me feel glamorous.”
Speaking of her plans for the future, Kairah said: “I have a long list of surgeries I want: gender reassignment, breast implants, a rhinoplasty, fillers for my lips, a mini-brow lift, brow-shave and hair line reduction.
“I love the glamorous look and I’ve always been a fan of the Kardashians.
“They were happy and comfortable with themselves and that’s what I’ve always wanted.”
