A woman who had gender reassignment surgery aged 81 has spoken about her “absolute euphoria” at getting the life she always wanted.
Ruth Rose, now 85, grew up as a boy called James but knew from nine years old she was a woman.
On Thursday’s This Morning, Ruth said that because society wasn’t as accepting of gender change surgery during that era, she felt she couldn’t tell anyone how she was feeling.
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Talking to hosts Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford, Ruth said: “[I was] living at a time when this sort of thing was not really accepted in the public eye.
“The time came when it was accepted, I was free to [have the surgery].”
Ruth didn’t realise she was able to have the surgery until her doctor told her.
She said: “I had no idea I could do it. I was living my life as a woman and my doctor said ‘why don’t you do it?’ And she sent off a letter to fix it.”
Speaking about when she first realised she was in the wrong body, Ruth said: “I was about nine, in the middle of the war when things were strict anyway.
“I felt this strange urge I wanted to be a girl and I really was in some way a girl and part of my personality developed in that way. I couldn’t tell anyone.”
Ruth revealed she went on to marry a woman and they had three children.
Revealing her wife’s reaction after telling her she wanted to become a woman, Ruth told the hosts: “It was a difficult time, as anyone would imagine.
“But she was so forbearing and understanding enough to keep things going nicely – to give me that bit of freedom so I could go out and visit friends and be Ruth.
“She was very tolerant and I was very pleased that she was.”
Ruth went on to encourage others who may feel the same as she did to “totally embrace and meet all the challenges”.
She said: “It’s never too late but it’s not an easy thing to do. It’s not as though you just pop into hospital and come out a different person.
“You’ve got to really understand yourself well enough and clean up your life as best you can as a male or a female, if you’re changing the other way.”
“There’s lots of challenges you have to meet and you’ve got to actually bravely face those challenges and meet them,” she added.
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“Because if you don’t you’re going to live a life that has little places you can’t go or little things you can’t do.”
Viewers watching from home praised Ruth on Twitter.
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