Caroline "Tula" Cossey, former Playboy model and Bond Girl, essentially disappeared from the public eye after a tabloid revealed her big secret—that she was born male. But after coming to terms with her outing, she responded by becoming the first transgender woman to pose for Playboy in her own pictorial in 1991.
In a new interview with Playboy, the model-turned-author, 60, opens up about her experience as a transgender woman and how she perceives the changing attitudes toward the trans community.
"I feel like I was probably so many years too early," she says.
But with stars such as Laverne Cox and Caitlyn Jenner living life in the spotlight, Cossey admits that she continues to be surprised in the best way possible. "Every time something positive happens, I'm watching with my mouth open, gasping and thinking, Fabulous," she explains.
"Laverne Cox is so comfortable talking about it. It's the changing times," she adds. "You used to see a gay friend on a TV show only because it was fashionable. It's not fashionable. It's reality. It's the way it is."
She does say, however, that Jenner's coming out was a "bit of a shock." In her interview, which took place before Jenner's Vanity Fair debut as Caitlyn, she explains that she can relate to what she's going through and hopes she doesn't rush into any surgeries.
(With the release of the Vanity Fair story, Caitlyn has chosen to identify publicly as a woman and E! News will refer to her using female pronouns. In stories published before this date, she was referred to as Bruce Jenner and male pronouns were used.)
"[She's] been such an incredible athlete and hero, with all those raging male hormones running through [her] body," she says. "[She] is obviously going through a lot of pain and suffering. I hope [she] finds [her] happiness, but it's going to be tough."
She adds, "I've seen and heard so many horror stories of people going through surgery, becoming miserable and killing themselves because it was not the right step for them."
Although Cossey underwent gender-reassignment surgery in 1974, she admits that her initial Playboy spread helped her "cause."
"Playboy's readership is mostly male and heterosexual, so it allowed me to get out there and prove that people like myself can be sexy and attractive," she explains. "That's what I aimed to do at that point. I wanted to fight for the right of recognition."
At the end of the day, however, it was the people closest to her who helped her get through all of the upheaval and why she has decided to re-release her second autobiography, My Story.
"I hope [my book] helps people. People go through my situation and they're rejected and resented and they have a hell of a time," she says. "I was blessed with a stable family and friends, and I don't know if I could have gone out into the open and stood up and fought if I didn't have them."
Playboy's July/August double issue hits newsstands June 26.