| Andy Wachowski (left) has now come out as transgender and goes by the name Lilly, after sibling Lana’s (right) own decision years ago. Photo: Reuters |
LOS ANGELES — The second Wachowski sibling of The Matrix trilogy has come out as a transgender woman, with Andy Wachowski, now going by the name Lilly, making an announcement on Tuesday.
Lilly’s sister and directing partner, Lana, came out as transgender years ago. In a statement to Windy City News, Lilly said she was at risk of being outed by the media.
According to her statement, Lilly was approached by a reporter from UK outlet the Daily Mail, who asked Lilly if she could “have my picture taken and tell my story which was so inspirational!”
Lilly went on to slam the Daily Mail’s history with transgender issues.
“It was the ‘news’ organization that had played a huge part in the national public outing of Lucy Meadows, an elementary school teacher and trans woman in the UK,” she wrote. “And now here they were, at my front door, almost as if to say — ‘There’s another one! Let’s drag ‘em out in the open so we can all have a look!’”
“So yeah, I’m transgender,” she went on. “And yeah, I’ve transitioned.”
Shortly after the announcement, GLAAD director of programs for transgender media Nick Adams issued a statement celebrating the news and cautioning the media in its coverage: “GLAAD is thrilled that Lilly Wachowski is able to be her true and authentic self today, however, she should not have been forced to disclose her transgender identity before she was ready to do so. Journalists must learn that it is unacceptable to out a transgender person, in the same way it is unacceptable to out a person who is gay, lesbian, or bisexual.”
The Wachowskis rose to fame with The Matrix in 1999, completing the trilogy in 2003. The duo did Cloud Atlas in 2012 and last year, they released Jupiter Ascending, starring Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis. They also recently co-created the Netflix series Sense8. VARIETY.COM / REUTERS