I transitioned to become a woman aged 69 and now I’ve found a husband – I thought I’d die without ever knowing true love

• Phillis Price, 70, from Washington, transitioned to be female at 69 years
• Read More: I’m a firefighter and trucker who’s changed gender aged 80 

A former hairdresser who transitioned to become female at 69 years old and feared she would ‘die never having known true love’ has married a man who brings ‘joy to her heart’.

Phillis Price, 70, who worked as a successful hairdresser for 45 years and now lives in Washington, calls the time before her transition ‘the dark years’.

She lived in ‘despair’ for more than 60 years, felt hollow inside, ‘spent her alone time crying’, and isolated herself from relationships.

But Phillis is now living the life she always dreamed after transitioning in 2022 and has met and married her husband Steven, 48, a cook.

She did not tell anyone about her struggles and kept her secrets for years – even during her first marriage, which ended in divorce when Phillis was 50.

Phillis Price, 70, (right) who worked as a successful hairdresser for 45 years and now lives in Washington, feared she would ‘die never having known true love’ has married a man who brings ‘joy to her heart’ (left) 

Phillis did her utmost to be hyper-masculine and hide her feminine urges, including getting tattoos, growing a full, thick beard, and buying clothing and furniture with ‘no feminine edge to it whatsoever’. 

But her feelings never went away and it made her ‘miserably unhappy’.

There was a turning point in 2022, however, as Phillis remembered a promise that she had made to herself when she was 20 years old – that she would ‘be a woman as a senior’.

‘When I first started the transition, what I wanted more than anything in the world was to find love and commit myself to one man,’ Phillis said.

‘It’s been a whirlwind, it hasn’t even been a year [since I transitioned], and I’m shocked. How could I have developed all this in such a short time? Everything just fell into place.

‘My biggest fear in life was to die never having known true love. Well, now I have known true love.’

Phillis said she knew she ‘should have been a girl’ when she was just five years old – but it took her more than 60 years to start living the life she had always wanted.

She did not tell anyone about her struggles and harboured her secrets for years – even during her first marriage, which ended in divorce when Phillis was 50

She lived in ‘despair’ for more than 60 years, felt hollow inside, ‘spent her alone time crying’, and isolated herself from relationships (pictured before her transition, at 66 years old)

Phillis is now living the life she always dreamed after transitioning in 2022 and has met and married her husband Steven, 48, a cook (right)

Phillis hinted to Steven (pictured) that she wanted him to marry her, and just weeks after first connecting online, Steven officially proposed with a canary diamond ring in April

After starting hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in January 2022, Phillis transformed from ‘this skinny, shapeless man’ to a ‘curvy’ woman and came out to the world in November 2022.

Having since undergone surgical castration, she said she is now just taking oestrogen, she feels ‘healthy’, and she is in ‘great shape’.

She does not even recognise or remember the person – Phillip – who once used to look back at her in the mirror.

‘When I first laid eyes on Phillis in the mirror, she was out and never going back and the other person died that day,’ she said.

‘At this point in time, it feels like I’ve always lived my life just as I am. Steven knows no-one but Phillis.

‘I am who I am, and that’s who he loves, and he’s never known anybody else.’

Phillis said she has always wanted to find true love, but at first, she did not believe this would ever be possible.

After facing frauds and scammers, Phillis nearly ‘gave up on romance’ – until a message from Steven popped up on her screen in March this year.

After starting hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in January 2022, Phillis transformed from ‘this skinny, shapeless man’ to a ‘curvy’ woman and came out to the world in November 2022

Having since undergone surgical castration, she said she is now just taking oestrogen, she feels ‘healthy’, and she is in ‘great shape’

There was a turning point in 2022, however, as Phillis remembered a promise that she had made to herself when she was 20 years old – that she would ‘be a woman as a senior’ 

‘I probably spent about three months chatting with different gentlemen and it was a nightmare – frauds, scammers, people asking for money, or just making stuff up, never wanting to talk to you – so eventually, I decided that that was it, I wasn’t going to do that anymore,’ she said.

‘I thought I would maybe try a dating site or something, but then Steven messaged me in March and I thought, ‘Well, I’m just going to try this one last time’.’

Phillis was intrigued and ‘took a chance’ on Steven, who lived locally to her at the time in Seattle, and she decided to respond to his Facebook message.

Steven wrote: ‘Hi, I’m Steven, I’m local. If you like hit me back’ – and even though he barely knew Phillis at the time, he said he ‘knew she was the one from the get-go’.

They spent one week talking online, via messages and video chats, before nervously meeting in person for lunch.

Phillis said she questioned whether ‘the magic would be there in person’, but they connected instantly and have been together ever since.

‘Before that, I was giving up on romance because I thought, ‘Oh well, maybe I’ll just figure out how to live by myself’. I didn’t think I’d ever find romance,’ Phillis said.

‘I wanted love and commitment, I didn’t want casual or kinky stuff, I wanted old-fashioned love and commitment – and that’s what he brought. He very much touched my heart.’

She said when she first laid eyes on Phillis in the mirror, she was out and never going back (pictured six months into HRT)

Phillis Rolli, before her transition, pictured outside her family home with her parents

Phillis pictured before her transition when she was 18 years old

Phillis pictured before her transition with her daughter who she shares with her ex-wife

Phillis hinted to Steven that she wanted him to marry her, and just weeks after first connecting online, Steven officially proposed with a canary diamond ring in April.

‘I just felt it in my heart, immediately,’ Steven said.

The couple got married on May 9, with Steven’s parents as witnesses, and they took a road trip across the country for two weeks for their honeymoon, which was ‘wonderful’.

‘I looked and looked for the right wedding dress and I had this one dress that’s black with some see-through material and flowers embroidered on the top, and he loved that, so that’s what I ended up wearing for my wedding, and I wore little kitten heels,’ she said.

‘I can’t be very tall because Steven’s already an inch shorter than me, so in our wedding pictures, I look like the Amazon because both his parents are short and he’s short.

‘I feel like we can’t really carry off the Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise look, but we got married in the Judge’s chambers, in a courtroom, and it was an emotional ceremony.’

The newlyweds then moved into their new apartment in Washington in July, and they are now looking forward to enjoying ‘more fun times’ together and settling into married life.

Phillis said she doesn’t even recognise or remember the person – Phillip – who once used to look back at her in the mirror

While the pair have only known each other for a matter of months, Phillis said she did not want to ‘hold off’ – and most importantly, Steven brings ‘joy’ to her heart.

‘When I look at it this way, I’m 70. I can hold off and wait and have less time to enjoy it, or I can go for the gusto now and enjoy it as long as it lasts,’ she said.

‘Steven makes me laugh and he has brought joy to my heart. He loves me more than I love myself.’

Phillis said her biggest fear in life was to ‘die never having known true love’ and she never thought she would be a married woman.

However, after conquering this, she now wants to enjoy ‘wherever life will take’ and hopes to one day start painting again.

She would advise anyone who is looking to find love to leave the baggage from past relationships behind, and while she still faces challenges as a result of her transition, she no longer worries about her future and said the ‘most amazing thing is to commit your life to another person’.

‘I’m living the life that I dreamed of all my life,’ she said.

‘I can’t believe it and it is shocking that it all came together so quickly, but I just believe that this is the way it was supposed to be.

‘I think when you are truly happy in your heart, then you get led into the right choices and the right places.’

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