Tommy Dorfman Reintroduces Herself as a Trans Woman

Tommy Dorfman is reintroducing herself to the world!

The 29-year-old 13 Reasons Why actor just came out as a trans woman in a new Time magazine article.

“thrilled to reintroduce myself as the woman i am today. my pronouns are she/her,” she shared on Instagram. “thank you, @time, for this space, @torreyadora for writing this story, and @gizellehernandez for these images.”

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“It’s funny to think about coming out, because I haven’t gone anywhere. I view today as a reintroduction to me as a woman, having made a transition medically,” she told the mag. “Coming out is always viewed as this grand reveal, but I was never not out. Today is about clarity: I am a trans woman. My pronouns are she/her. My name is Tommy.”

Tommy shared that over the past year, she has been fully transitioning to a woman.

“I’ve been living in this other version of coming out where I don’t feel safe enough to talk about it, so I just do it. But I recognize that transitioning is beautiful. Why not let the world see what that looks like?” she told Time. “So I kept, on Instagram, a diaristic time capsule instead—one that shows a body living in a more fluid space. However, I’ve learned as a public-facing person that my refusal to clarify can strip me of the freedom to control my own narrative.”

“With this medical transition, there has been discourse about my body, and it began to feel overwhelming. So, recently I looked to examples of others who have come out as trans. There’s the version I couldn’t really afford to do, which is to disappear for two years and come back with a new name, new face and new body. But that’s not what I wanted,” Tommy continued.

With Tommy‘s transition, she is not changing her name, as Tommy has a special, personal significance.

“I’m not changing my name. I’m named after my mom’s brother who passed a month after I was born, and I feel very connected to that name, to an uncle who held me as he was dying. This is an evolution of Tommy. I’m becoming more Tommy,” she shared.

She also revealed that Lena Dunham gave her first role as a woman last year, and her relationship with husband Peter Zurkuhlen has turned more into just a friendship.

“I’m thinking about how I can infuse my trans body into film and television. Lena Dunham gave me my first role as a girl last year—it was so exciting and validating,” Tommy said. “And personally, it’s wild to be 29 and going through puberty again. Some days I feel like I’m 14. As a result of that shift, the types of romantic partnerships I seek out are different.”

“I was in a nine-year relationship in which I was thought of as a more male-bodied person, with a gay man,” she added about Peter. “I love him so much, but we’ve been learning that as a trans woman, what I’m interested in is not necessarily reflected in a gay man. So we’ve had incredible conversations to redefine our relationship as friends. Transitioning has been liberating and clarifying.”

For more from Tommy‘s interview with Time Magazine, head to Time.com!