From aboriginal origins to international sensation, Jenna Talackova has had a memorable few weeks. Before appearing on The View on April 9, the 23-year-old transgender beauty queen, disqualified from the Miss Universe Canada pageant for not being a “natural born female” and then reinstated, appeared with Barbara Walters on 20/20. Last week we gave you a preview. Here is the entire interview of her April 6 appearance on the venerated ABC News program.
From the time she was first conscious, Talackova tells Walters, she felt like she was “in the wrong body.” Beginning hormone therapy at age 14 and undergoing “very painful” gender reassignment surgery at 19, Talackova completed her transformation by changing her legal status from male to female. Then she hit the beauty pageant circuit. But after being chosen as a finalist for Miss Universe Canada, Talackova was outed on the Internet.
“She’s a duuude,” said one commentor, as shown in the 20/20 segment. Truth is, she never made it to “dude-dom.” She veered off that with the hormone treatments and the removal of her adam’s apple, as well as other parts. And, she tells Walters, she had no idea it would cause such a stir.
“I didn’t know that there would be this much controversy,” she said in the interview, exhibiting an enviably positive attitude about her body. “I just entered because I knew I wanted to represent Canada. I think I’m a beautiful woman, inside and out, and I think I would have done the job.”