I love a success Story - The Wachowskis

Lilly Wachowski Talks Trans Visibility in Rare Public Appearance: "We Have to Break the F***ing Door Down"

 From The Hollywood Reporter
AUGUST 02, 2019 by Chris Gardner

Lilly Wachowski

“My sister Lana and I have largely avoided the press,” Wachowski explained in the essay, referencing her transgender sibling and longtime creative collaborator on such films as the Matrix trilogy, Cloud Atlas and Jupiter Ascending and the series Sense8. “I find talking about my art frustratingly tedious and talking about myself a wholly mortifying experience. I knew at some point I would have to come out publicly. You know, when you’re living as a transgender person it’s...kind of difficult to hide. I just wanted — needed some time to get my head right, to feel comfortable.”

A month later, on April 2, 2016, Wachowski walked the blue carpet at the 27th annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles, and though it was a quick run-up to the occasion — she told The Hollywood Reporter at the time it felt like a Band-Aid had been ripped off — she made the decision to be there in part to support Sense8’s nomination (and eventual win) but also out of service. “I wanted to do it in such a way that I could help as many people as I could.”

That spirit of visibility and selfless generosity for the sake of a greater good brought Wachowski back into the spotlight Thursday evening, albeit one with a softer glow, on the second floor of the TV Academy’s Saban Media Center in North Hollywood. The event: a panel discussion titled “The Power of TV: Trans Visibility in Storytelling” presented by the TV Academy Foundation and Walt Disney Television. (In 2017, the TV Academy Foundation introduced a new series of public programs titled "The Power of TV" to examine TV's ability to shape culture and create positive social change.)

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From left: Alex Blue Davis, Lilly Wachowski, Steven Canals, Brian Michael Smith, Disney's David Ambroz, executive director of corporate citizenship and social responsibility, TV Academy's Madeline Di Nonno, Alexandra Billings, and GLAAD's Nick Adams pose together ahead of the panel "The Power of TV: Trans Visibility in Storytelling," presented by the TV Academy Foundation and Walt Disney Television at the Academy's Saban Media Center on Aug. 1, 2019, in North Hollywood, Calif.