Transgender Actress Laverne Cox Lands TIME Cover, Reveals She Attempted Suicide As A Child

Transgender actress Laverne Cox has landed a coveted cover on TIME magazine. Laverne shares how she has gone from being bullied for acting feminine as child in Mobile, Alabama, to starring in the hit Netflix series, Orange Is the New Black. Check out a few excerpts:

A moment or time she remembers first feeling like she might be transgender: 

I tell this story about third grade. My third grade teacher called my mom and said ‘Your son is going to end up in New Orleans wearing a dress.’ Up until that point I just thought that I was a girl and that there was no difference between girls and boys. I think in my imagination I thought that I would hit puberty and I would start turning into a girl.

Why she felt, that after her grandmother passed away, she was looking down on her and disapproving: 

I was in sixth grade and I was going through puberty. During puberty, the attraction for other boys got really strong. And I learned in church that was a sin. I imagined that my grandmother was looking down on me and that she knew what I was thinking, because she’s in heaven. I just imagined that I was disappointing her and it just was devastating for me. So I went to the medicine cabinet and got a bottle of pills. And took them. And swallowed them. And went to sleep, hoping not to wake up. And I did wake up, with a really bad stomachache. I don’t remember what the pills were. Whatever it was, I thought that they would kill me but they didn’t.

How things changed as she got older:

I started trying to find a compromise in terms of gender in high school. I started embracing androgyny. I was just really scared and in a lot of denial. And I wanted to make everybody proud and happy and find a place for myself in the world. The funny thing is being in this androgynous space really wasn’t any better, in terms of perception or reception from people. It was part of my journey that got me to where I am now.

Click here to read the full interview.

Laverne shared her excitement on Instgram, writing:

What a wonderful bday present! Yes today is my birthday and I am on the cover of @TIME magazine. I realize this is way bigger than me and about a tipping point in our nation’s history where it is no