Finding out that your husband likes to dress as a woman can’t be easy.
And so it was for TV host and model Joey Mead when she found out that her husband, Ian King wanted to become a transgender woman named Angelina Mead King.
Joey is slowly learning to overcome the issue through counseling. But more importantly, for Joey and Angie, love is love no matter what.
Joey has, in the words of Angie, been “more awesome than awesome.”
As such, Marvy Del Rosario Schuman, Angie’s mother, took to social media to publicly thank her daughter-in-law, Joey, for not turning her back on Angie.
Angie, who was formerly known as the car-crazy businessman Ian King, came out as a transgender woman on July 2.
“I want to laud my DIL, Joey, for her outstanding #support for my child, her husband and bff, Ian/Angie for the ultimate support in what could possibly be one of the most courageous endeavors one could ever make: speak the truth about your sexuality,” Marvy said in a Facebook post on July 5.
Marvy also hinted at the struggles Joey had to overcome as Ian’s wife.
“Joey deserves only admiration for her own #endurance and love, as I have had a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes struggles in the past,” Marvy said.
Joey, in an interview with Tim Yap, also admitted that it was not easy to accept Ian’s decision and transformation. Details of Yap’s interview follow.
“I fought a lot. Fought myself… a lot, fought my husband, fought conventionality,” Joey said.
“I fought hard–tooth and nail, blood sweat and tears for this relationship. Somehow it all breaks away. For what’s life without a little bit of bizarreness?” the TV host/model also said.
Mom Marvy, meanwhile, remains optimistic about Angie and Joey’s marriage.
“I’ve been asked by many as to what will happen to the marriage of my kids. That, is up to them, but from what I feel, they’re in love with each other, so with God’s grace, they will be granted a long happy life together,” she said.
Read: Joey Mead’s husband and business titan Ian King is now a queen
Next: Angie discusses sexual preference
Angie: “I like women”
When asked whether she is gay, Angie said she is still very much into women.
“Sexual preference–no, I’m not gay,” she said.
“I like women. Soft, curvy, yeah, no body hair,” she elaborated.
Angie accepts the fact that most Filipinos will simply categorize her as “bakla”, without understanding the full spectrum of the LGBT community, or that sexual preference is different from sexual expression.
“There is no clear description in the Filipino native language, there is no Tagalog version of LGBT… and however how many letters there are—that’s where the blurred lines come from,” Angie surmised.
The transition
Angie is currently taking medication to block testosterone production and introduce more estrogen into her body.
“I’m taking medication through an endocrinologist, he’s a licensed doctor and he monitors my blood levels every two months and adjusts the hormones,” Angie revealed.
“First, it takes testosterone blockers and then you supplement it with estrogen,” she explained.
“It’s a second puberty where your body is reborn into a different gender because you are alternating it with hormones, so in two to three years, it would be finished and will transfer my body with a distribution of body fat and breasts, that is already starting,” she simplified, adding that she can already see subtle changes on her body.
“I measured when I started. My chest has grown a little—from 36 to 37—and my waist has gotten smaller.”
Complete sex change
Angie also opened up about the possibility of going under the knife for a complete sex change.
“That’s [the] weird part, I’m happy with my privates and that should remain private. It’s no one’s business,” she said.
“Why does it matter? I have a partner, we are faithful and loyal. We have been living with each other for more than 10 years,” she also said.
Next: Angie reveals their struggles as a married couple
Picking up the pieces: “I broke her because her knight in shining armor wanted to be a princess”
Through it all, Joey and Angie’s marriage, though not perfect, is still intact.
Ian confessed his sexuality to Joey a few months into their marriage.
“A few months into our relationship. I told her I like to wear women’s underwear and it escalated from there,” Angie admitted during the exclusive interview.
“Of course, this was not gonna be easy for your wife… Joey has had her struggles, we had struggles, but we never separated over it,” Angie also said.
“We have been working through it. I have a counselor, she has a counselor, we talk to a lot of friends, family,” Angie added.
No, things have not been easy, but Angie and Joey refuse to let this break them.
“As much as she enjoyed in the beginning and hated it later on, she realized, wait, what’s happening?”
“Just like in The Danish Girl, I broke her because she lost face [when] her knight in shining armor wanted to be a princess…”
“That was the hard part for us, but we picked up the pieces, we figured out what our relationship was—we love each other and this is not gonna break us.”
“Rock and roll, let’s try, are you gonna give up before you try? This is what we are trying.”
“Joey is super pumped also because there is so much support for her, too; she’s more awesome than awesome.”
Read: Hail to the queen! Angelina Mead King’s fashion sense rivals that of wife Joey Mead
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