Teddy Geiger says ‘eliminating shame’ helped to embrace being trans
Teddy Geiger arrives at the AFI FEST 2018. (VALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images)
Musician Teddy Geiger revealed in an interview that coming out as trans helped eliminate her anxieties and OCD tendencies.
The interview, which took place with CBS News correspondent Vladimir Duthiers on the CBS This Morning podcast, also saw Geiger discuss working with Shawn Mendes and being nominated for a Grammy Award.
“When I was growing up, I didn’t know of anybody who was trans,” the musician said in a discussion about the initial shame she had when she realised she was transgender.
“There was always this like shame, anxiety thing around all of that, even if I wasn’t actively like expressing it,” Geiger said.
(Rich Polk/Getty Images for BMI)
The singer-songwriter said that getting treatment for her reliance on cigarettes and marijuana and obsessive-compulsive tendencies, helped her to realise she was transgender.
“I learned in one of the groups about shame and guilt… and how shame thrives on secrecy,” she said of her time in treatment.
“As soon as I let go of it, it became so much easier to just look at the whole thing clearly and be like okay: ‘I am trans'”
— Teddy Geiger
“So I told a couple friends about it,” she said. “I was like ‘hey, might be trans, might want to look at doing hormone therapy, just letting you know’ … and they were like ‘Yeah cool. Who cares? Like whatever, awesome.'”
“The shame made it so much harder to accept,” she added.
“I didn’t want to accept that was actually going on with me… but as soon as I let go of it, it became so much easier to just look at the whole thing clearly and be like okay ‘I am trans’. That’s what’s real for me… how do I move forward now.”
Teddy Geiger is one of three trans women nominated for a Grammy Award this year
Shawn Mendes’ In My Blood, which was co-written by Geiger, is nominated for Song of the Year at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards.
This nomination makes Geiger one of three trans women nominated at the ceremony this year.
“It’s cool for people to be able to see that and to have more artists and people who are trans just like doing things and kind of being visible,” she commented.
On how Mendes reacted when Geiger told him she was transgender, she said: “He was just super supportive … I felt like accepted and loved.”
“I’m not always 100 percent happy with it you know, but still I’m psyched,” she added.
In November, Geiger announced she is engaged to Schitt’s Creek actor Emily Hampshire.
At the time, the songwriter said on Instagram: “I love this woman so much she treats me like a lil princess and makes me laugh harder than anyone.”
