When Ria Cooper appeared on today’s This Morning to speak about her life, her revelations came as quite a surprise.
Eight years ago, aged just 15, Ria became the youngest Briton ever to undergo a sex-swap operation, switching from a boy to a girl.
Now, at the age of 23, she’s preparing for a THIRD sex change. Having already gone back to being a male, she’s now seeking to become a woman for the second time.
And viewers reacted with shock and disgust as they took to Twitter to have their say. But it wasn’t the multiple sex-swapping that caused them to hit out. Oh no…
The cause of their irritation was the fact that Ria was chewing gum during the interview.
One observer raged: “FFS take out the chewing gum love.”
Another tweeted: “I can’t watch this interview because of her chewing on her gum.”
And a third viewer said: “Chewing gum whilst being interviewed…disrespectful.”
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Harsh – but we’re sure Ria will be able to take the criticisms on the chin. After all, she’s had to deal with much bigger issues.
Though she was born Brad, she described how she never wanted to play with traditional boy’s toys and, at 15, decided to change sex.
Doctors reportedly agreed that she was a girl living in a boy’s body.
Then came the injections of female hormones to ensure that she grew breasts and didn’t develop too much facial hair.
But, unable to get a job and fearing she would never be fully accepted as a woman, she decided to return to being Brad shortly after her 18th birthday.
It turned out to be a mistake. “I put boy’s clothes on and I thought, ‘I can’t do it,'” she explained.
And with each passing day, Ria became more and more certain that she was meant to be a woman. Hence the decision to go under the knife for a third time.
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She’s already treated herself to a new pair of 34EE boobs – now she just has to wait for the genital op next year.
Speaking on This Morning, she recalled how upset she was after being criticised for changing sex as a 15-year-old.
“I used to say people’s opinions didn’t affect me, but they really did,” she admitted. “I didn’t leave the house – it really got me down and I had depression.”
And now she’s being mocked for chewing gum. How will she cope?