Heartstopper star Bel Priestley shares inspiring update after voice feminisation surgery
Heartstopper star Bel Priestley shares inspiring update two months after undergoing voice feminisation surgery (Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Heartstopper star Bel Priestley has given an update two months after undergoing voice feminisation surgery, saying she feels like a “new confident woman”.
The actor and TikTok star underwent the surgery, which changes the length, tightness or size of the vocal cords and can make the voice sound higher, in November.
In an earlier update, Bel Priestley revealed that the first week after surgery was “the hardest of my life”, and she wasn’t able to “sneeze, cough or speak for seven days.”
On Sunday (19 January), Priestley shared a further update, saying she had a “long recovery” ahead but was “so happy” with the results.
“I kind of for the first time feel like a woman,” she said in a video on Instagram. “I feel like this new confident woman.”
One fan responded: “Your voice matches you so well.”
Another added: “You sound STUNNING!!!! I’m so proud of you.” A third said: “So so proud of you and your journey, you constantly inspire me to keep pushing with my own trans journey, lotta love you sound incredible! So glad you are happy.”
Priestley, who plays trans student Naomi Russell in Heartstopper, came out as trans at the age of 13, and has said that being bullied at school led her to want to be a role model for other transgender youngsters.
“I want to be someone for the younger generation to look up to and hopefully inspire. I hate the thought of anyone feeling so alone, like I did growing up,” she told the BBC in 2023.
“It is lovely when I get comments saying I have helped people come out to their family. I know role models can make such a big difference and I want to be the best role model I can. I want to be the person I never had growing up.”
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