It’s been years since Laverne Cox rose to fame for her Award-winning portrayal of the inmate Sophia Burset in “Orange Is The New Black”, but that was only the beginning of a highly successful career. Since then, Laverne has appeared in dozens of mainstream productions, including her Emmy Award winning documentary “Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word” and being the first transgender person to conquer the cover of Time magazine.
With such a top-tier career and the enthusiasm which characterizes her, Laverne has done wonders to inspire other people around the world, becoming an icon for the LGBTQ+ community, by showing herself how she truly is.
Laverne’s path hasn’t been an easy one, though. From a troubled childhood to facing financial and emotional issues into her adulthood, Laverne has struggled a lot to get where she is, and that’s a story which is certainly worth telling.
So what’s the sad life of Laverne Cox, and how has she overcome those struggles? Keep watching and find out!
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She Had A Rough Childhood
To understand why Laverne Cox had a rough childhood, it’s necessary to know first where she comes from. She was born on 29 May 1972 in Mobile, a city in the Southwestern side of Alabama. Laverne lived with her mother and twin brother Reginald Lamar, who would later become artistically known as M. Lamar.
Laverne was supported by her mother to attend dance classes, which as she confessed to Self magazine, was something atypical considering their household was supported by a single income. Nevertheless, Laverne could only pursue her jazz and tap aspirations, but wasn’t allowed to practice ballet, as it was the only thing her mother opposed to, not finding it fitting for the gender Lavender was assigned at birth.
On top of that, she and her brother were strongly bullied throughout their childhood, with Laverne affirming that she had become a fast runner because she and her brother had no option but to run away at full speed once they got off the school bus every morning.
Unfortunately, Laverne’s mother was not very understanding of her struggles or feelings about her gender, making the situation harder for her. At 11 years old, Laverne attempted suicide, after which she took up the option of finding refuge in her love for arts, eventually gaining a scholarship to the Alabama School of Fine Arts.
Finances Were Rough
After matriculating from high school, Laverne Cox found her way into Indiana University Bloomington with a scholarship, later transferring to the New York City-based Marymount Manhattan College, from where she gradulated with a Bachelor in Fine Arts.
#NewProfilePic pic.twitter.com/tcNN596XCs
— Laverne Cox (@Lavernecox) January 22, 2018
Throughout those early years in New York, Laverne supported herself with a waitress job while not abandoning her goal of becoming an actress, which was a dream she warmed up to during her time in college. She found herself appearing in several independent productions and some mainstream ones, such as “The Law & Order” and “I Want To Work For Diddy”.
Nevertheless, Laverne’s financial situation wasn’t improving much. By the time she starred in “Orange Is The New Black”, she was still working at a restaurant on the Lower East Side of New York City. Later in 2018, Laverne confessed in an interview with Self magazine that she still suffers from panic attacks related to the possibility of becoming homeless, as she was evicted two times in her life.
Relationship With Her Body
As a trans woman, one common topic of conversation for Laverne is about her body and self-perception. In an interview with L/Studio, Laverne opened up about her early life struggles with this subject, affirming that her school’s teacher, bullies, and even her mother, had tried to police her gender and who she was from an early age.
According to Laverne, she was in third grade when her teacher called her mother, telling her Laverne needed to go to therapy to prevent her from ending up on the streets, wearing a dress. Her mother’s response was to berate Laverne about the way she acted, which was described as ‘effeminate’.
The situation awakened a fear in Laverne about losing her mother’s affection for not being who she and other people wanted her to be. It wasn’t until Laverne grew up and moved to New York City that she began her transition, describing herself as back then as a ‘gender-nonconforming’ person.
All of these experiences and her eventual rise to fame led Laverne to embrace who she is even more. As seen in her habit of using the hashtag #TransIsBeautiful on her pics, she now welcomes being seen as a trans woman instead of hiding who she is, as she confessed in a 2018 interview.
Dating Isn’t Easy
Since rising to fame, Laverne Cox has had several publicly known relationships. First, she was involved with the writer and director Jono Freedrix in 2016, though the pair broke up some time that year.
The next year she began dating Kyle Draper, a music executive and entrepreneur. Though the couple rarely made public appearances, Laverne opened up about their relationship to the magazine Self, describing Kyle as ‘funny’, ‘sexy’, ‘kind’, and ‘charming’.
The pair was close to celebrating their second anniversary when they broke up for unknown reasons. Laverne broke the news in an Instagram post from June 2019, affirming that they had held a high level of ‘kindness, respect’ and ‘trust’ throughout their relationship. Later in 2020, Laverne began a relationship with an unidentified man which lasted four years.
Regarding her experiences with love and relationships, Laverne told Self magazine that her expectations have changed with time. During her younger years, it used to be difficult for her to find partners who ‘treated her well’, as opposed to her relationships these days, in which she’s looking for partnership and love.
Dealing With Fame
Laverne Cox has become a source of inspiration for many people who not only love to see how far she’s come, but also find her experiences relatable. Since rising to fame, Laverne has won several recognitions for her contributions to the LGBTQ+ movement, including an Anti-Violence Award, named Woman of the Year by the magazine Glamour in 2014, and entered Time’s list of 100 Most Influential People in 2015.
Laverne is no stranger to receiving praise for these sorts of things. According to a 2018 interview, she confessed that it wasn’t rare for her to be told that she’s saved other people’s lives, as the fact that Laverne achieved success and fame motivates other trans people to keep going, despite difficulties.
Nevertheless, finding herself being perceived in such a high regard is also overwhelming at times. As Laverne confessed in that same interview, she sometimes feels guilty at not being able to respond with the same positive energy to people and fans who admire her, often feeling drained and overwhelmed at interacting with others.
With that being said, Laverne has become an icon for too many reasons, but it’s also inspiring to see her showing herself so sincere and humane towards others.
