Tommy Dorfman on Transitioning After 13 Reasons Why

One 12 months after publicly reintroducing herself to the world as a trans woman, Tommy Dorfman is reflecting on the influence her Hollywood profession has had on her gender identity. The “13 Reasons Why” alum — who starred within the Netflix authentic collection from 2017-2020 — revealed in an interview with Time in July 2021 that she’d “been privately figuring out and dwelling as a girl.” During an Aug. 15 episode of the “Broad Ideas with Rachel Bilson” podcast, she obtained extra candid about her performing begin and its affect on her transition.

“In these early years of working, I used to be simply attempting to know [myself],” Dorfman stated. “I feel if I hadn’t booked that job [’13 Reasons Why’], I’d’ve began transitioning loads sooner. I feel as a result of my work being so tied to my physique and face and id, or no matter I had been recognized as, it delayed a few of my development and a few of my maturation in my mid-20s. I additionally suppose I made selections that have been simply not aligned with who I actually was or what I wished, however out of concern.”

Dorfman, who divorced her husband, Peter Zurkuhlen, in February after 5 years of marriage, added that, reflecting now, she feels she obtained married in 2016 as a result of “it felt like a protected, safe area that I may carve out for myself in a world that was ever-changing.”

Dorfman additionally elaborated on the timing of her transition, noting that she as soon as felt like she was “by no means the correct age.” “I all the time felt like I wasn’t in the correct place, proper time, all the time felt like I wasn’t actually meant for the world I used to be dwelling in,” she stated. ” . . . When I began transitioning, I went, ‘Oh, no, no, no, no, I’m completely meant for this physique, this time, and this world, I simply was sporting a sweater that was three sizes too small for 28 years.'”