It’s no hoax – this guy really is pregnant.
Thomas Beatie, the transgender man with the world’s most famous baby bump, appeared with his wife Nancy on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” today – explaining the hows and whys of his bizarre journey.
Beatie, 34, is six months pregnant and on target to deliver a healthy baby girl – which he’s carrying in the womb he kept intact when he became a man 10 years ago.
PHOTOS: Man Claims He’s Pregnant
There was speculation Beatie was pulling a huge hoax when pictures of him appearing to be pregnant appeared on the Internet.
But he and his wife, who live in Bend, Ore., laid those rumors to rest on today’s “Oprah,” which included a chat with their obstetrician – who declared their baby “totally healthy” – and footage of the baby’s ultrasound.
Thomas Beatie said he was born Tracy Beatie and lived as a woman until his 20s. He even competed in the Miss Teen Hawaii USA beauty pageant as a teen (he made it to the finals).
Beatie said he always felt very masculine and learned to live with his secret – dating both men and women into his college years.
“Growing up I really didn’t have a perception of myself [as a girl],” the bearded Beatie told Oprah Winfrey.
“When I was a teenager I had an attraction to women, but it wasn’t a sexual attraction,” he said. “I was much of a tomboy who liked to play with Legos and go fishing … probably up until puberty I didn’t see anything wrong at all.
“When I turned 14 I started to grow breasts … and that was kind of a shock to me.”
Beatie decided to switch sexes when he was 24 – he had his breast surgically altered – but opted to keep his reproductive organs.
“I wanted to have a child one day,” he said. “I didn’t know how and I had no plan laid out. It was just a dream.
“I have a very stable male-gender identity,” he said. “I see pregnancy as a process. It doesn’t define who I am.”
Beatie said he was actually pregnant once before, about a year ago, but lost what could have been a “multiple pregnancy” due to complications.
After about a half hour of chatting with Beatie, Winfrey brought up the questions everyone wanted answered.
“Let’s get to the penis part,” she said. “Did you have a penis implant?”
“No. Amazingly, hormones are an incredible thing,” Beatie said, explaining that his intake of testosterone enlarged his sex organs.
“It looks like a small penis … and I can have intercourse with my wife,” he said.
Winfrey asked the couple why they decided to go public with their story.
“We felt it was best we tell our story instead of other people telling the story for us,” said Nancy Beatie, who has two grown daughters from a previous marriage.
“If we have to, we’ll go hide,” she said when asked about being harassed. “It’s something we knew could possibly happen.”
“Love makes a family,” Thomas Beatie told Winfrey. “That’s all that matters.”