Rose McGowan went through ‘five very intensive days of trauma therapy’ after on-stage trans row
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Rose McGowan has revealed that she had to go through “five very intense days of trauma therapy” after becoming embroiled in a public row about trans equality during her book tour.
McGowan was at a Q&A in New York when trans activist Andi Died began to question McGowan’s stance on trans rights last month (January 31).
The former Charmed actor had a patchy history with LGBTQ equality, previously hitting out at Caitlyn Jenner, claiming she has “male privilege” and “doesn’t understand” being female.
At the book Q&A, McGowan, who has been a figurehead for the #MeToo movement, was questioned about anti-trans remarks she made on RuPaul’s podcast, What’s The Tee?, last year.
During the episode, she said that trans women thought they knew what it was like to grow up female, “because they felt like a woman on the inside,” but that this was false.
“That’s not developing as a woman,” said McGowan. “That’s not growing as a woman, that’s not living in this world as a woman and a lot of the stuff I hear trans [women] complaining about, yeah, welcome to the world.”
US actress Rose McGowan (Photo by RENA LAVERTY/AFP/Getty Images)
At McGowan’s event in Manhattan, a trans woman stood up and said: “I have a suggestion: talk about what you said on RuPaul.
“Trans women are dying and you said that we, as trans women, are not like regular women.”
Speaking passionately, she continued: “We get raped more often. We go through domestic violence more often. There was a trans woman killed here a few blocks [away]. I have been followed home.
“You do nothing for them. Trans women are in men’s prisons. And what have you done for them?”
“What have you done for women?” McGowan retorted.
A shouting match proceeded, until McGowan stood up and said: “Sit down. Sit down. Sit down. Enough! Get lost!”
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The trans woman shouted: “This is the AIDS crisis all over again!”
When she heard that, McGowan looked the woman in the eye and made an ‘up yours’ sign in her direction.
The woman was then escorted out while yelling: “White cis feminism.”
“Shut up, you’re so boring,” McGowan told her.
The actress then went on a fiery tirade, telling the departed trans woman that she was a different “planet” and that she should be “f***ing grateful” for McGowan’s work.
“Don’t label me, sister,” she said. “Don’t put your labels on me. Don’t you f***ing do that. Do not put your labels on me.”
Speaking on Ashlee Marie Preston’s podcast, SHOOK, McGowan explained that she was hurt by what followed the row.
“The people who call me TERF [trans-exclusionary radical feminist], hurt me so deeply,” she said.
McGowan then goes on to explain that the incident gave her “mad PTSD”.
“I’m just starting that journey. […] After the, uh, New York situation and I went and did five very intensive days of trauma therapy.
“And now I stopped smoking weed because my brain needed to be clear. And I was – I think it’s a magical – cannabis is magical. But I think if you abuse it and it’s a way of you like going home at night and it feels too much. But I also had no other tools. I had none.”
