Eureka O’Hara is “blessed” now that she’s living her truth as a transgender woman.
After living in her gender identity for the last seven months, the Drag Race and We’re Here alum publicly shared her story for the first time in an interview with PEOPLE.
“I’m blessed now,” said the star “because I know who I am without question.”
“It’s been really magical and it’s been probably the easiest transitional and coming out journey that I’ve ever been on,” she added. “I hope my story teaches people that gender is a journey, and we are ever-evolving people.”
Eureka reexamined her gender identity after she met Mandy, a trans individual who transitioned in their 70s, on a forthcoming episode of We’re Here.
The Emmy Award-winning HBO series, which recently launched its third season, follows Eureka and her Drag Race sisters Bob the Drag Queen and Shangela as they travel across the U.S. and recruit small-town residents to participate in drag shows.
“Hearing the story of Mandy regretting losing all that time — and all the regret and the pain that she was going through during the time of not fully being herself — was really important to me,” said Eureka.
“When I left Mandy’s house that day, I started spiraling. It just had me searching my mind, ‘What is happening, what is going on?’ Then I just answered myself: ‘I’m trans. I’m a trans woman.’ It just clicked.
“Now I’m at 31 years old, and I’m like, ‘Well I don’t want to be like Mandy and finally transition at 70 to be happy. I don’t want to lose 40 years — I want to spend those 40 years happy.'”
When Eureka decided to transition, she leaned on her We’re Here co-stars Bob the Drag Queen and Shangela for support, as well as her drag mother Jacqueline St. James.
“I wanted to have the
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