Cher's daughter now officially a man

Cher's gender-swap daughter has officially become a man.

Chastity Bono - the 41-year-old offspring of the Believe singer and her late husband Sonny - legally changed her name to Chaz and gender to male in the Santa Monica court yesterday, one year after undergoing a sex change procedure.

Chaz's lawyer Kristina Wertz said: "Today the Transgender Law Centre represented Chaz Bono in a petition for change of name and gender.

"The court granted the petition and Chaz now has a court name change and a court order recognising him as male. Chaz couldn't be happier. This is an important step in his transition and will allow him to change a variety of his identity documents to show who he truly is."

Last year, Chaz revealed he only had the confidence to begin his gender re-assignment surgery after getting sober.

Chaz said: "It wasn't a sudden decision. I've been doing therapy for a long time. It's a long process going back almost a decade. I got clean and sober in 2004 and I couldn't have done this before that.

"I always felt like a male from the time I was a child. There wasn't much feminine about me. I believe that gender is something between your ears not between your legs. That is something I discovered in the early 90s. It was just a long process of being comfortable enough to do something about it. I was turning 40 and I thought it's now or never."

Chaz began the process in March 2009 by taking male hormone pills but the complete change will take up to five years and he will have to take testosterone supplements for the rest of his life.

Chaz said: "The nice thing about this process is it is slow. I am literally going through puberty."

Chaz came out as a lesbian aged 18, and now lives in Los Angeles with Jennifer Ella, his girlfriend of four years.

- BANG! SHOWBIZ

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