My Husband Became A Woman

Here's why I didn't leave': Many wives would have seen it as an unbearable betrayal. But when John, a university lecturer, told Barbara he wanted to live as Jane, she faced a shattering dilemma

By EMMA ELMS FOR THE DAILY MAIL
Published: 17:00 EDT, 13 November 2019 

The couple from Somerset explain how they maintained their relationship... 

Barbara and Jane Hamlin 

Most marriages hit a few bumps. But 72-year-old Barbara Hamlin has weathered one of the most challenging upheavals. 

Five years ago, her husband John had gender reassignment surgery to become Jane, now 71. Here, the couple from Somerset explain how they maintained their relationship...

A denim mini skirt, hotpants, a collection of women's lacy lingerie and a pair of black patent stilettos. My head was spinning as I rummaged through the bag I'd found at the back of our wardrobe.

My immediate conclusion was that my husband of eight years was having an affair. Heart thumping, imagination running wild, I kept putting the clothes back in the bag, hiding the bag, then pulling it out again and staring at the clothes in disbelief. I was desperate to know the truth — but as we were due to fly to Canada on holiday the next day, I told myself to bide my time.

Once we were there, as we lay in the dark in bed together, I blurted: 'So what's this bag of women's clothes I've found then?' John replied sheepishly: 'They were for me.'

To my astonishment, the 'other woman' was him. I was 49; John was 48. We'd been married for eight years. And yet, I'd never have imagined John could be into cross-dressing.

I'd been so afraid he was cheating that my overwhelming feeling was relief — not that I could have imagined then that it would eventually lead him to gender reassignment surgery.

Our married life was blissful before John's revelation.

Both primary school teachers in Somerset, we had met at work, and got together after he split up with his wife, the mother of his son and daughter. Then 40, I had split from my own first husband two years before.

Read all of this heartwarming story here...

After all, Jane and I are just ordinary people whose love transcends everything.

Jane is president of The Beaumont Society, the UK's biggest transgender support group (beaumontsociety.org.uk/partners).