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Laverne Cox Fights Back Tears While Thanking Fans: ''I'm Very Lucky to Be Living the American Dream''—Watch!

''I'm so so grateful and I want to give that love back to you,'' the actress told her fans while chatting with E! News

By Alyssa Toomey Oct 20, 2014 12:00 PMTags
Watch: Laverne Cox Inspires Transgender Community

Earlier this year, Laverne Cox made history when she became the first transgender person to cover Time magazine, thereby becoming a face for the movement. 

The 30-year-old Orange Is the New Black star, who has spoken candidly about her struggles to come to terms with her identity, became an LGBT advocate after shooting to fame through the critically acclaimed Netflix series and continues to fight relentlessly to help young trans people find the courage to accept themselves. 

E! News sat down with Cox—who was promoting her MTV documentary The T Word, which premiered on Friday and takes viewers inside the lives of seven transgender youth—and she couldn't help but get choked up while gushing over her adoring fans who admire the inspirational actress. 

VIDEO: Laverne Cox opens up about her love life 

"I was in Virginia earlier this week and I met this amazing young man. He's 16 years old, his name is Andrew, and he came to my talk and we got to meet and do a photo afterwards, and he gave this letter and I read the letter afterwards and I was just bawling," she shared. "And he talked about sort of having been depressed, he's come out as trans, his family's been really supportive, but he's just been so depressed going to school...And apparently he found out I was coming to Richmond and everyone just told me that he just perked up immediately and got really excited." 

Cox proceeded to take a moment to pause and gather her thoughts about the meet and greet before expressing her gratitude. "It's pretty awesome," she said. "I'm just a person who's trying to live my dreams. I'm very lucky to be living the American dream right now when so many of my trans siblings are not so lucky. And just that he would be inspired just that I was coming—that would change his mood, and give him hope and a sense of inspiration. It's a lot of responsibility, but I thank you." 

Gilbert Carrasquillo/FilmMagic

The actress then turned directly to the camera to personally thank Andrew, as well as her other fans, while trying to hold back tears. "Thank you Andrew for that, and thank you to everyone who comes out and gives me so much love, I'm so so grateful and I want to give that love back to you and I want to let you know that you're beautiful, you're smart, you're amazing and you are exactly who you know that you are, it doesn't matter what anyone else tells you." 

Watch the clip to learn more about Laverne's documentary and find out why the project holds such a place in her heart!