Halloween actress Jamie Lee Curtis has opened up about her daughter Ruby coming out as transgender last year.
In an exclusive interview with People, the 62-year-old mom of two says she hopes their story encourages others to be brave and live a life true to their selves.
Ruby, who she shares with her husband Christopher Guest as well as their other daughter Annie, opened up about the “scary” moment she came out to her parents.
“It was scary — just the sheer fact of telling them something about me they didn’t know,” Ruby said of the moment she tried to tell them face to face in the backyard of their Los Angeles home last year.
“It was intimidating — but I wasn’t worried. They had been so accepting of me my entire life.”
Ruby still felt unable to share her news. Instead, she left and texted her mother. “I called her immediately,” Jamie Lee said. “Needless to say there were some tears involved.”
Ruby said she was first able to admit her true self to the person who is now her fiancé.
“Still being Tom at the time, I told the person who is now my fiancé that I am probably trans. And they said, ‘I love you for who you are,'” she said.
Her mom, the actress and author and daughter of Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, said she’s learning a lot from Ruby and often makes mistakes.
“It’s learning new terminology and words I am new at it,” she said.
“I think that’s sort of evolutionary and a very important step in our home. We have tried to maintain it in a big way. I’m learning a lot from Ruby.”
Jamie Lee said there is a steep learning curve that comes with a child coming out as trans.
“It’s speaking a new language,” she said. “It’s learning new terminology and words. I am new at it. I am not someone who is pretending to know much about it. And I’m going to blow it.
“I’m going to make mistakes. I would like to try to avoid making big mistakes,” she continued.
“You still mess up, I’ve messed up today twice. We’re human.
“But if one person reads this, sees a picture of Ruby and me and says, ‘I feel free to say this is who I am,’ then it’s worth it.”
Despite coming from a Hollywood dynasty, Ruby has remained out of the spotlight throughout her life and now works as a video editor for a gaming personality on YouTube.
“I knew Ruby had had a boyfriend. I knew that Ruby had used the word bi. But gender identity and sexual orientation — those are two separate things,” the two-time Golden Globe winner said.
‘I am here to support Ruby’
“And I knew that Ruby played female avatars in video games,” she said.
“But when you ask, ‘Did you have an inkling that Ruby was trans?” I would say ‘no’. But when I replayed Ruby’s life, I went, ‘Hmm, that, that, those, hmm.'”
But Jamie Lee said “a mother knows” and “I am here to support Ruby.
“That is my job. Just as it is to care and love and support her older sister Annie in her journeys.”
I think the support Jamie Lee has shown her daughter and the bravery of Ruby to admit her true self is an inspiration to us all.
Please share to encourage others to be open minded about the paths our loved ones and friends have chosen and help support them in their brave decision to come out.
