Interview with a Superstar – Aleshia Brevard
VR Who is Aleshia Brevard?
AB Nicely put! Being that I go so far back into transgendered history, I remember a time when it would have been worded “What is Aleshia Brevard?” Okay, now how do I answer your politely worded question? I am an ‘ex’ many things — teacher, Playboy Bunny, actress, and farm boy being only part of the list. Today, happier than I ever thought I might be allowed to be, I am happy to report that I see myself primarily as a contented woman, an older, retired woman, granted, but still that central womanly core is at the heart of it all.
VR Where are you living right now?
AB “Almost heaven” isn’t always West Virginia as John Denver told us in song — for me it’s Santa Cruz, on the Central Coast of California. I’m sitting at my computer answering these questions, looking out on a mountain meadow that in spring is yellow with daffodil yellow and even now in summer is a rich California gold fringed by the green of redwood trees that finger down from the surrounding Santa Cruz Mountains. Add a liberal community to this natural beauty and what more can one ask… if you’re pretty much past the frantic search of a city’s barroom scene?
VR Can you tell us about your feelings to know you were different from the person in the mirror as you were growing up?
AB Well, growing up the person I saw in my mirror was Veronica Lake. That’s because I was always standing in front of our bathroom mirror with a white towel draped over my head pretending I was the glamorous, if female, movie star. From about the age of four I realized I was “different”. It was at that age I knew for sure my secret was not one to be shared — that’s when my sense of being different turned ugly. Prior to turning four I’d been fairly content with my sense of femininity, believing as I did that I’d awaken one morning with everything having been put right by a God my family so firmly believed to be good and loving. It was, however, at about four and with God having worked no miracles that playmates and family friends started pointing those accusatory fingers in my direction and I realized with shame that a girl couldn’t have a penis.
VR Who was your inspiration?
AB Other than Veronica Lake, you mean? There were no transsexual inspirations for me (and that’s what you actually mean, I’m assuming). Granted, Christine Jorgensen had undergone her broadly publicized transition about ten years prior to my 1962 surgery in Los Angeles, but the hoopla surrounding Ms. Jorgensen’s homecoming had scared me to death. I didn’t start putting any of it ‘together’ until I began working at Finocchio’s in the late ’50’s and was introduced to Dr. Harry Benjamin through my trans-sister and Finocchio’s employee, Stormy Lee.
VR Who do you admire?
AB You know who I REALLY admire — and this ain’t some sick plea for sisterr/brother adoration. I admire those members of my trans-community who are still fighting the fight, be it personal or public, and out there doing their damn-level-best to make our world a better place. I know it isn’t easy and I suspect that with the glare of publicity that transitioning has only become more difficult. The fortitude and stamina it takes to hold your chin up, complete your journey, and to do it with something resembling poise and grace when the rest of the world, often even the queer community, only wants you to disappear — honey, that’s worthy of admiration.
VR What do you think you have to offer the transgender community, anything at all?
AB Very little to offer, I fear, other than my own personal truth. I do have sense enough to know that because something has worked for me that does not make it a universal truth. We all have too many people telling us how our lives should be lived. Personally, I’m not marchin’ off to anybody’s war but I am dedicated to struttin’ down town in a dress. In the early days wearing that dress was enough of a war. Hey, let people do their own thing and in the order that feels right for them.
VR Do you think you have made a difference in the transgender community?
AB I’m not what any thinking person would term a crusader, capped or not. Immediately following surgery I moved into heterosexual suburbia as fast as my newly shod feet would carry me. All I ever wanted was to be respected and to be somebody’s wife… well, I also wanted to be an actress, but that would come later. My point is that I have not spent my life out there workin’ for understanding of the transgendered. God, my flowered hat is off to those who have been so brave and courageous. I’m a late bloomer.
VR Do you think you still have more work to do for the transgender community?
AB I simply do not think of life in those terms, I guess. I don’t even particularly wish to be thought of in “Aleshia’s a credit to the transsexuals” terms … sounds like something from a bad 60’s Civil Rights themed film. Okay, okay, maybe I’m a throwback. I still preceive the transsexual’s goal to be personal fulfillment and a life lived in the appropriate gender. I KNOW there are hundreds, if not thousands, who disagree with me on that issue. Hey, I’m simply tellin’ you what was good for this ol’ sister.
VR What do you think makes you stand out above others?
AB At one time it was three or four inch heels but a broken ankle and neuropathy caused by diabetes took care of that — except on special occasions when it’s worth any pain to be beautiful.
VR Do you get nervous when you are asked to speak to a group or perform on stage?
AB Helen Hayes, “First Lady of the Stage” as she was said to be, reportedly threw up from nerves before going on stage. If that’s what it takes to be a great actress then I guess I’ve always been a hack. If I feel prepared than I can hardly wait to get before my audience. On the other hand I’ve had many, many nightmares in which I was not prepared, didn’t even know the play, and yet was thrown onto a stage.
VR Would you ever get SRS(reassignment surgery) or when did you have your surgery?
AB My surgery was at Westlake Hospital, Los Angeles — July 7, 1962. It took eight hours and cost $2,500. Would I do it again even at today’s prices? You’d better believe it! I never felt complete and/or comfortable with myself before gender reassignment.
VR What has been your biggest accomplishment?
AB Well, Child, I’ll be sixty-six in December, forty-one of those years lived as a woman. To me that is one hell of an accomplishment. I’ve survived husbands, love affairs, teaching both college and high school students, film producers, a Bunny Mother, Republicans, and watching my boobs droop. Yep, that’s an accomplishment.
VR What really makes you happy?
AB I’m very fortunate to have loyal, caring, supportive friends — and a don’t-give-a-damn cat. They make me happy. A morning when the marine layer rolls in through the redwoods makes me happy. Seeing roses respond to my loving touch fills me with a joy. But, most of all, I think, it is dealing on a daily basis with people who do not first think of me as that woman who grew up a man that brings me the most joy.
VR What really makes you upset?
AB Oh, shoot, now you’re gonna make me appear bitchy and petty. It still pisses me off to have a bad hair day. Yes, I know it’s of no importance compared to the lack of world peace — but you asked the question. I came into my own as a drag queen at Finocchio’s, what else can I tell you! I don’t think I’ll ever get beyond those superficial, rather inconsequential, values. Hey, I’m still working on this downfall but I grew up believing that if I were not perfect and beautiful than I would not be loved. Love, I think we’ll all agree, is worth the effort.
VR Have you ever had a true love in life?
AB Other than with myself, you mean? Tee Hee. I couldn’t resist. My first husband used to tell me that I did not want to be loved I wanted to be worshiped. Ours was a love/hate relationship. But, back to your original question, or better yet — now that I’ve steeled myself for it, yes I have truly, truly been deeply, madly in love. I’m not sure that the self-sacrificing, boundless, helpless type love I first experienced is even healthy, but I had it.
VR Are you in love now?
AB I am now in the BEST kind of love. I love me, I love a few special people, and I love life.
VR As a transgendered person do you think you have receive proper respect you deserve in life?
AB I’ve been adored and I’ve been hated… but I suspect that little of that had to do with the fact that I’m transsexual. Oh, sure, some ignorant people are gonna spit and get all in a twist, but bye and large I strongly believe that if you’re the best person you can be and treat others fairly (maybe even love their asses) that they’re gonna give you an even shake.
VR Do you feel that we as transgendered people are getting what we deserve as human beings from our government?
AB Government? Who do you know that gets what they deserve from their government?
VR Do you think you are nice person or do you think you can be a bitch at times?
AB I tell you what, and here’s the real upshot of that question for me, no longer do I really worry about being universally loved. Well, I try not to worry about it. I have spent so much time being nice to the wrong, undeserving people in the past that I’d come home a bitch to the deserving people in my life. Now I try to go with what I honestly feel at the moment. There was a time when I BELIEVED that I wasn’t a woman if I didn’t throw a bitch fit at least once a week. Silly. That’s just part of growing into the kind of woman you need to be, one where the rules are what you make them.
VR Do you have any pet peves?
AB I don’t like people who are not kind to each other. I’m too old for all that play actin’ stuff — I just want people to be themselves and show a little human dignity and kindness while doin’ it.
VR Where do you see yourself in the future?
AB How far in the future are we lookin’? This side of the urn a cruise might be nice.
VR Do you have a favorite movie and why?
AB Favorite? I simply adored a film called “The Goddess” starring Kim Stanley. It was at best a B-picture from the 60’s, I’m guessing, but Miss Stanley burned up some celluloid with her characterization of a woman determined to become a star. It has long been my favorite and the film isn’t even on tape or DVD, so much the pity. I guess my more accessible favorites would be: Greer Garson’s “Mrs. Miniver”, “La Strada” by Federico Fellini, Marilyn Monroe’s “Bus Stop” and “Some Like It Hot”, and James Dean’s “East of Eden” or “Rebel Without a Cause”. Oh, let’s add anything that actress Anna Magnani ever did.
VR Who is your favorite fiction character(s), in literature or in the movies, and why?
AB Okay, and you know that’s a tough question (Right?) — when I was in undergraduate school, less than a year after surgery, I did the Tallulah Bankhead role, Sabina, in Thornton Wilder’s, “The Skin of Our Teeth”. I won Best Actress for the year, I might add. I’m very fond of that character.
VR Can you recommend us a motivating or inspirational book. that has changed your erception about the world?
AB I can… but I’m quite sure I’m going to misspell it. “The Celistine Prophacy”
VR What words of wisdom would you give a to someone who is reaching out for help?
AB Keep reaching until you find someone who knows what in the hell they’re talking about and do not react out of frustration and/or fear. Transsexual surgery, I am sad to say, has in some corners become big business. Someone’s greed is not a good enough motive for me to decide to have a surgery that is irreversible. I fear that in today’s world the future well being and adjustment of the patient is not always the motivational factor in performing surgery. Before you do ANYTHING know in your own heart that you are doing this for the right reasons. Surgery is not a solution for basic unhappiness.
VR Do you have a final statement, for our readers?
AB Thanks for putting up with an old woman’s ramblings.
Note from Vicki Rene: Can I tell you I love this woman? No I can not. Can I tell you I even know this woman? No I can not do that either. Does she know me? No I don’t think so! Did I write her and ask her if she would do this interview? Within 12 hours I got an email back saying “I would love to”! Would I like to sit in her living room in the beautiful hills of Santa Cruz Ca. and listen to this lady talk for about a week and a half? Ladies and Gents you can bet every dime you have on that one. Do I consider her one of the most fascinating people I now know? Silly question! Will I be in touch with her in the future? Another silly question!
You can also more information about Aleshia on her WEBSITE
