Hunter Schafer Shares Details on Gender-Affirming Surgery and Past Passport Issues

Transgender actress Hunter Schafer, known for her role as Jules in the HBO series "Euphoria," has disclosed that she underwent gender-affirming bottom surgery in December. Schafer shared the news in a recent interview with Elle magazine.

"I just had bottom surgery in December, which was amazing, and I love it so much," Schafer told the publication. Bottom surgery, also referred to as genitourinary reconstruction surgery, encompasses a range of gender-affirming procedures performed on the genitals. These surgeries can be feminizing or masculinizing.

During her recovery earlier this year, Schafer had to limit her physical activity, with instructions to lie down and take a maximum of 150 steps per day. She spent her recovery period in a rented apartment, visited by friends and family.

Schafer, who transitioned to female as a teenager, has previously been an advocate for transgender rights. In 2016, at the age of 18, she participated in a rally protesting North Carolina's "bathroom bill," holding a sign that read, "Trans youth exist, are valid, [and] deserve basic human rights."

Last year, Schafer publicly expressed her frustration after her passport listed her gender as 'male' rather than 'female,' attributing the change to a controversial executive order from the Trump administration. She noted that this change could complicate travel and interactions with border officials.

"I want to acknowledge my privilege, not only as a celebrity transwoman who is white and thin and can adhere to contemporary beauty standards and I can participate in all of the that, and I pass, and it still happened," Schafer stated in a video addressing the passport issue. She speculated that passport agencies might be required to cross-reference birth certificates, which could explain why her gender marker was changed despite having updated it on other documents a decade prior.

While Schafer asserted that the letter on her passport does not alter her identity as a transgender woman, she highlighted the practical difficulties it creates. "It doesn't change really anything about me or my transness, however it does make life a little harder," she said, anticipating potential increased instances of having to out herself to border patrol agents.

She concluded her video by emphasizing the visibility and resilience of the transgender community: "Trans people are beautiful. We are never going to stop existing, I am never going to stop being trans, a letter on a passport can't change that. And f**k this administration."