Kellie Maloney to go ahead with gender reassignment surgery, despite health scare
Despite a health scare during facial surgery last month, former boxing promoter Kellie Maloney has said she will go ahead with gender reassignment surgery.
The former UKIP candidate and boxing manager came out as transgender in August, before signing up to appear on Celebrity Big Brother.
She said last month of awaiting surgery: “For the first time in my life, I’m going to be complete in my body and my mind. I can really start getting on with my life.”
“As soon as I get out of that bed, I’m going to look in a full-length mirror at myself and for the first time ever, I will see the person I should have been all of my life staring back at me.”
Reports suggested her gender reassignment and breast augmentation surgeries had been called off after doctors spent hours saving her life when she suffered a bleed during her facial surgery.
She has now told the Mirror: “I am still as determined now as I ever have been to go through with the sex operation.
“It’s not just a matter of wanting to go through with this. This is something I have to do to correct what was wrong at birth.
She continued: “Not many trans gender [sic] people get the chance to live as they as wanted to and in the manner they should have from birth. I’ve been exceptionally lucky to get the chance now to do that.
“But I never expected for a minute that people would have been as positive about my decision as they have.
“I know some have sneered about it being a stunt, but this is my life. This is real life and I hope my story has helped other transsexual people out there.”
She said the zsurgery was still set for February, continuing: “I’m not scared. I am mentally strong and fully focussed on what I need to do. A couple of years ago it was a distant dream and now I am taking the final steps.
“After I have had this done I will be a woman for the first time.”
During the facial surgery last month, she suffered a bleed, which doctors thought was caused by taking aspirin regularly, and emergency surgery was required to stop her from choking to death.
Maloney told the BBC in 2004 that she would not campaign in the London borough of Camden, because there were “too many gays”.
She said last month: “I accept comments I made in the past were wrong.
“If you knew Frank Maloney, if you were there when I made those remarks – you would have seen the smirk on my face.
“I knew it was wrong but I was saying it in jest.
“The UKIP councillors working for me at the time were gay – they told me it was silly, it was a mistake.”
