Chaz Bono Talks About Becoming a Man

As the only child of the late Sonny Bono and pop culture icon Cher, there was no way Chaz Bono was going to be able to quietly transition from life as a woman to a man.

But that seems to be fine with this courageous writer and activist who has become increasingly public about his new life as a man and about what such a transition entails. Chaz gave an exclusive interview to Entertainment Tonight’s Mary Hart which will air Thursday and Friday.

“[I'm] trying to use my life experience to educate people,” Chaz says in the interview previewed today on Huffington Post. “I feel more like myself more than I ever felt. I feel happier and more confident. I used to live most of my life in my head because I was so uncomfortable in my body. The most important thing about this for me is that my outsides are finally starting to match my insides. I feel like I’m living in my body for the first time and it feels really good.”

About his life-changing decision, Chaz tells Mary, “It wasn’t a sudden decision. I’ve been doing therapy for a long time. It’s a long process going back almost a decade. I got clean and sober in 2004 and I couldn’t have done this before that.”

Millions of fans of the old Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour well remember the cute little blonde girl whose parents would sometimes bring out at the end of the show for a little bit of fun.

But there was more than met the eye.

“I always felt like the male from the time I was a child,” Chaz said. “There wasn’t much feminine about me. I believe that gender is something between your ears not between your legs. That is something I discovered in the early 90’s. It was just a long process of being comfortable enough to do something about it. I was turning 40 and I thought it’s now or never. I want to still feel vibrant and be able to enjoy my life in a male body and not wait until I am an old man.”

Chaz said he began taking male hormones in March which have lowered his voice and has started to shave the “peach fuzz” off of his face about once a week.

[I'm] still not anywhere near what I will look like but really for the first time I am feeling much more comfortable with how I look physically,” he said.