I want a sex change... again: Transsexual who had £10,000 surgery on NHS wants to become a man again - because being a woman is exhausting

A transsexual who had a £10,000 sex change on the NHS to become a woman now wants the taxpayer to foot the bill for a further £14,000 of surgery so she can become a man again.

Chelsea Attonley, 30, who was born a boy and called Matthew, said she now finds being a woman 'exhausting', is tired of putting on make-up and wearing heels, and now accepts that she should always have stayed a man. 

Chelsea said she had struggled with her identity while growing up in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, and as a child she would dress up in women's clothes.

In her twenties she became a drag queen known as Miss Malibu, drawing on glamour model Katie Price's look for inspiration.

 

Chelsea Attonley, 30, who was born a boy and called Matthew, had a £10,000 sex change on the NHS to become a woman. She now wants the taxpayer to foot the bill for a further £14,000 of surgery so she can become a man again

An initial bid for a sex change to become a woman was turned down by a doctor, sending Chelsea into a spiral of depression, she said.  

But then the former drag queen, who copied Jordan's style by wearing a blonde wig, mini skirts and stilettos, had a chance meeting with her idol in a nightclub in 2007.

The glamour model told her to 'go for it' and her words inspired Chelsea to return to her GP and push once again for the gender reassignment surgery, costing £10,000.

 

But now, seven years after surgery to become a woman, Chelsea wants to go back to being a man - and wants the taxpayer to foot the bill.

Chelsea, who lives on welfare benefits, told a magazine yesterday she finds dressing and acting as a girl 'exhausting' and feels she has never been fully accepted as a real woman.

She is aiming to have a breast reduction on the NHS and painful gender reassignment surgery to give her back a penis at a total cost of £14,000.

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Chelsea, who changed her name by deed poll from Matthew in 2008 after a £5,000 boob job in Thailand partly funded by benefit money, says she gradually began having doubts about the sex change

Chelsea, now living in London, said: 'I have always longed to be a woman, but no amount of surgery can give me an actual female body and I feel like I am living a lie.

'It is exhausting putting on make-up and wearing heels all the time. Even then I don't feel I look like a proper woman.

'I suffered from depression and anxiety as a result of the hormones too.

'I have realised it would be easier to stop fighting the way I look naturally and accept that I was born a man physically.'

Chelsea, who spoke on ITV's This Morning earlier this year about Katie Price's encouragement, says she does not feel guilty about asking the taxpayer to pay for her reversion.

'Now I have decided I want to live as Matthew, I am desperate to have my FF-cup boobs removed,' she said.

'I can't afford to have them done privately, so I am hoping to have the op on the NHS.

'I can't work at the moment because I am too upset after what I have been through.

'I am considering having penis reconstruction too. I don't feel bad about the NHS paying for the surgery as I don't consider it a choice.

Chelsea Attonley: 'Meeting Jordan inspired my transformation'

'I need to have these operations for the sake of my mental health. I am lucky enough to live in a country where there is free health care.'

Chelsea, who changed her name by deed poll from Matthew in 2008 after a £5,000 boob job in Thailand partly funded by benefit money, says she gradually began having doubts about the sex change.

She said: 'I thought the surgery would make me feel complete, but it didn't.

'I knew deep down that, even though I had had surgery, I had still been born a man.

'But I tried my best to block out my feelings.'

Chelsea said living as a woman is exhausting.

'No matter how much make-up I put on or how I dressed, I knew people would not know me as a real woman.

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Chelsea, now living in London, said: 'I have always longed to be a woman, but no amount of surgery can give me an actual female body and I feel like I am living a lie'

'It was draining to constantly think about how to walk and speak like a girl.

'I was fighting a losing battle. When people found out about my past, they treated me like a liar and a fake. I suffered from anxiety and depression.'

She said she lost the support of her mother when she died from a heart attack.

She said : 'I could not keep up the act of pretending to be a woman any more. It was making me miserable.

'I had to go back to living as Matthew.'

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She said she had always struggled with her identity while growing up in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. As a child she would dress up in women's clothes, and in her twenties she became a drag queen known as Miss Malibu

Chelsea has already had testosterone injections to begin her transition to becoming a man again.

She has also had testosterone injections to stimulate hair growth and has cut his hair.

She added: 'If people criticise me for wanting treatment on the NHS, it does not bother me.

'I know I need these changes to make me happy and no one should deny me that.'

The TaxPayers' Alliance yesterday insisted the NHS should not be expected to pay out again.

Research director Alex Wild said: 'The NHS must prioritise crucial frontline services over ridiculous vanity operations.

'This whole saga has simply cost far too much. If the Health Service is to be properly funded, this sort of waste must be cut out.'

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