Follow LA Observed on Twitter here
Bob Tur is one of the city's most recognized news helicopter pilot-reporters, from his coverage of the 1992 riots and the O.J. Simpson slow-speed chase. Today, he told KNX NewsRadio that he is in the early stages of aggressive hormone replacement therapy to fully transform from male to female. Tur is 53 and used to be married. He has two children. From the CBS LA story:
The 53-year-old said she was born with a female brain but a male body.
“It’s a genetic disorder that happens in utero. Nobody knows exactly why, but you’re born with a female or feminized brain. The corpus callosum is the main structure that joins the left and right hemispheres and it’s a nightmare if you don’t really know who you are. You think you’re a woman, but you’re a man,” she said.Tur said her body has already started to change after being on hormones for the past 35 days.
“There have been incredible changes that happen physically and mentally. Mental changes have already happened. The brain is plastic, so it’s gotten smaller and feminized. I’m thinking the same way a woman would think. About the five month mark, you won’t recognize me. My body is changing, my skin is changing, hair is changing, and I’ll have a female shape. Breasts start growing and I’ll lose body hair. Later on, about 12 months, there are another couple of surgeries. Facial feminization surgery and sexual reassignment surgery,” she said.
Tur said she chose to come out publicly about her life-altering decision because she’s “done hiding.”
“I’m done trying to deal with this. It’s gotten very bad in the last five years. It’s been a very easy process once I made the decision to go forward. Now that my brain is getting the right hormones…I had no idea that life was like this. I just had no idea. It’s amazing. The dysmorphic OCD thoughts are gone. For the first time, I’m truly happy,” she said.
Tur will take the first name Zoey in November, the story says. NBC News correspondent Katy Tur is his daughter.
Photo: CBS
