The controversial, first transgender contestant on “America’s Next Top Model” visited “The Tyra Banks Show” today to reveal all about her sex reassignment surgery and new life as a woman.
Isis King, who appeared in cycle 11 of the modeling competition show as a pre-op trans-woman, made her first TV appearance since receiving the surgery.
Isis said that the surgery to go from a male to an anatomical female took four hours and 15 minutes to complete. Looking into the mirror, she says, “It’s almost like I was supposed to have [the surgery]… Automatically I felt more comfortable. I was ready to walk around the house in my little shorts.”
The 22-year-old, who was born Darrell Walls, made it through three “ANTM” challenges last year before being eliminated in the episode that aired Sept. 24., because she was uncomfortable revealing her body during a poolside photo shoot.
Banks also invited Isis’ surgeon Dr. Marci Bowers — who appeared in 2004’s “CSI” episode “Ch-Ch-Changes,” involving the murder of a transgender woman — onto the show to explain the procedure, which typically costs between $20,000 to $35,000.
After showing a trio of new photos that recreated Isis’ “ANTM” pool shoot (watch below), her boyfriend Desmond, who was on stage with her, whipped out a three-stone diamond ring — representing the past, present and future — and proposed to her. She accepted with a shocked, “Yes. Oh my goodness, oh my goodness. Are you serious?”
Banks originally invited Isis onto “The Tyra Banks Show” in November, surprising her with the fact that she’d arranged for her to get the gender reassignment surgery gratis, courtesy of Dr. Bowers. The Colorado-based doctor, who is transgender herself, went through the surgery in 1998.