Euphoria alum Hunter Schafer revealed she underwent a gender-affirming procedure late last year.
“I just had bottom surgery in December, which was amazing, and I love it so much,” the actress, 27, told Elle in an interview published on Monday, October 19.
During her recovery early this year, Schafer said she rented a large apartment and invited friends and family to come visit her while she was on mandatory bed rest.
“I think my limit was 150 steps per day, which is nothing,” she recalled.
Schafer, who came out as transgender when she was a teen, added, “For a long time I’ve embraced the gender-expansive part of myself, and I really wanted to try to make that previous body work, because I thought there was something really cool and badass about it.”
The Blade Runner 2099 star emphasized that although the surgery was the right decision for her, every trans person is different.
“I feel like that’s the magical thing about queerness,” she continued. “On an ideological level, it’s about possibility and expansion and growth, and being on that journey and finding yourself … I’m a woman. I’m a girl.”
Bottom surgery can refer to either a feminizing or masculinizing procedure, both of which reconstruct genital anatomy to align with a person’s gender identity, according to Ro. Depending on the patient’s goals, the process can involve removing sexual organs and creating new ones.
Schafer previously opened up about not wanting her identity to overshadow her work during a 2024 interview with GQ.
“It has not just happened naturally by any means. If I let it happen, it would still be giving ‘Transsexual Actress’ before every article ever,” she told the outlet. “As soon as I say [the word ‘trans,’] it gets blastoff.”
“It took a while to learn that, and it also took a while to learn that I don’t want to be [reduced to] that, and I find it ultimately demeaning to me and what I want to do,” Schafer continued. “Especially after high school, I was sick of talking about it. I worked so hard to get to where I am, past these really hard points in my transition, and now I just want to be a girl and finally move on.”
Schafer added that she has been offered “tons of trans roles,” but she has turned them down.
“I know for a fact that I’m one of the most famous trans people in media right now, and I do feel a sense of responsibility, and maybe a little bit of guilt, for not being more of a spokesperson,” she concluded. “But ultimately, I really do believe that not making it the centerpiece to what I’m doing will allow me to get further. And I think getting further and doing awesome s***, in the interest of ‘the movement,’ will be way more helpful than talking about it all the time.”
