Courtney Act: Accepting my gender identity freed me
Celebrity Big Brother winner Courtney Act has opened up about coming to terms with her gender identity.
The Drag Race star admitted that once she realised that the gender binary didn’t apply, she felt freed.
Speaking to Newsnight host Evan Davis at National Student Pride in London, Courtney said: “There’s a lot of labels and how important they are.
Courtney Act (Student Pride)
“Once we start living in that truth. For example, genderqueer set me free from feeling not good enough as a man.
“It set me free from not feeling valuable enough, strong enough as a man.”
She added: “When I realised my femininity was important and could be celebrated, it laid to rest a lifelong struggle with my gender.”
Courtney Act (Student Pride)
The CBB star became famous friends with former Apprentice contestant Andrew Brady while in the house.
The pair were an unlikely friendship on paper – one a laddish businessman, the other a flamboyant pro drag performer.
Other housemates apparently discouraged the friendship, she said, revealing: “They told me to be careful as I knew what I was doing and that Andrew didn’t and that what we were doing could have a bad effect on his career.”
Courtney added: “But what I think is more important Andrew acting on his feelings and feeling like he was able to do that.”
Courtney Act is crowned winner during the 2018 Celebrity Big Brother Final (Getty)
The drag artists wasn’t shy to air her views in the house, however, clashing with anti-LGBT politician Ann Widdecombe.
But since leaving CBB she has urged fans to stop “making mean tweets and comments [to her] on my behalf”.
Courtney condemned online trolls, saying that fans who have sent tweets with “mean” sentiments do not represent her.
“I’ve heard that people are making mean tweets and comments on my behalf to Ann Widdecombe and others,” she wrote.
(Photo by Stuart C. Wilson/Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images)
“I do not support any mean tweets. Please treat everyone with compassion and understanding.”
Later that day she told Lorraine Kelly: “What I really kept in my mind was, I’m not going to change Ann’s opinions, but maybe people watching, whether it be in the house or watching at home, will hear two sides of an argument,” she said.
During Ann’s time as an MP from 1987 until 2010, Ann vehemently opposed gay rights – voting to block them at every opportunity.
