Kellie Maloney says ‘life was taken away’ after going public about transition
Kellie Maloney has said her “life was taken away” after revealing she is trans.
The boxing promoter has opened up in a new interview about going on public on being trans.
She told OK! Magazine: “[I didn’t receive] much negative attention but I sort of felt my life was taken away from me”.
“I wasn’t in control of my own life.
“There was so much attention around it, I felt like I was being rushed from pillar to post and I was at the centre of curiosity.”
The 63-year-old stated she is a “heterosexual women” after completing gender reassignment surgery earlier in 2015 – confirming her sexual orientation for the first time.
She also called for more acceptance of trans people, saying: “It’s a condition we have to come to terms with.
“People don’t make big deals about people in wheelchairs or people in the gay community these days – they’re accepted in society now.
“And I think trans people should be just as accepted in society.
“Because we are just people that have just corrected something we were born with, we haven’t changed the person inside us.
“We just want to be comfortable with ourselves and peaceful with ourselves and to be accepted in society.”
It comes after her planned appearance on a celebrity episode of First Dates was axed, because the man she was matched with was “uncomfortable” that she is trans.
Maloney had been set to appear on the celebrity edition of Channel 4’s hit series First Dates.
Speaking to the Mirror, a source close to Kellie said: “The man seemed very taken aback during the date and it was clear he wasn’t very happy afterwards.”
Channel 4 responded to the situation, confirming that the man was “open to being paired with a transgender person”.
A Channel 4 spokesman said: “Kellie’s date told the production team he was open to being paired with a transgender person, however after the date ended he felt uncomfortable about appearing on the celebrity episode.
“Duty of care to all contributors is of paramount importance to the First Dates team and after due consideration of the concerns he had raised, the decision was made not to include this date.”
Maloney last year said she thinks Tyson Fury’s career will suffer because of comments he made about gays and women.
In July, the former UKIP member also hit out at former leader Nigel Farage, claiming he mocked her when she announced she was transgender.
