Man quits high-profile job to have sex change
A former ITV newsreader has told how she quit her dream job
to have a sex-change operation and become a woman. India Willoughby, (right)
born male, completed her transformation last month at an NHS clinic, reports
the Sunday People
But for years she was married TV newsreader and dad-of-one
Jonathan Willoughby. India, 50, wanted to come clean to viewers and colleagues
but was frightened of a possible backlash.
India said: “There were many occasions towards the end of my
time at ITV that I thought, ‘I just can’t carry on going in as Jonathan’.
“I used to dream of going in one day and just carrying on my
career as the real me, as India. Then I would realise it just wasn’t possible.
"I remember in our newsroom when transsexual people
featured in the news and it was considered a joke. Guys would gather around
having a laugh.
“To my shame, I would join in because I had a fear that
people could see through the act I was putting on. So I would be a bit laddish
to hide my true feelings.
"But inside I knew it was me I was laughing at. The
climate back then left me in fear.”
India was on the verge of suicide when she quit broadcasting
in February 2010 to embark on a double life.
She was a glamorous female PR executive in Newcastle on
weekdays, before driving 60 miles home to Carlisle at weekends, where she would
resume the role of Jonathan.
She recalled: “The pressure built up because I felt that if
the truth came out I was going to lose everything, career, family and friends.
“I’d always known I was in the wrong body. I tried to resist
it but it became exhausting. "It would have been easier if I had had a
less high-profile job than being the person who pops up every tea time on TV.
India’s visit to her GP led to her starting a secret
two-year sex change procedure.
In July she summoned up the courage to break the news to her
son and to her joy he accepted her.
And then last month she took the final step by undergoing
gender reassignment surgery at an NHS clinic in Brighton.
India said:“When I woke up I felt fantastic. “The climate
has changed and I’d like to get back
