Woman who says she is girlfriend of Michael Phelps reveals she was born intersex
A woman who claims to be the girlfriend of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps has revealed that she was born intersex.
Taylor Lianne Chandler says she met the Olympian using dating app Tinder in September, and that they had sex on their first date.
The 41-year-old also posted on Facebook today to say the gender she was assigned at birth was male but being intersex, she transitioned to female.
She wrote: “I was born intersex and named David Roy Fitch at birth. But the time I could walk and talk I made it clear I was a girl and dressed as one. In my early teens I was medically diagnosed and went on testosterone blockers, at 15 estrogen enhancers. My birth certificate was modified along with my name while I was a teenager, prior to any corrective surgery.”
Chandler has said she did not tell Phelps about having transitioned before their relationship got intimate.
On their alleged first date, she wrote: “One thing led to the next and we made love during halftime. Later, we had sex again. The intimacy with him was amazing! It was the first time in my life that someone has made me feel like a true woman.”
She continued: “I am Taylor Lianne Chandler; I have always been a female regardless of labels and personal opinions. I am not transsexual and I have never identified with the moniker transgender, but intersex is certainly on the spectrum of gender along with them.”
Some have questioned the authenticity of Chandler’s claims about their relationship and Phelps has not yet commented on the claims by Chandler.
Responding to many reports in the mainstream press incorrectly using male pronouns, Chandler wrote: “Two steps forward and 100 steps backwards. That is what life feels like to me right now. In a world of educated people that had all the facts of intersex and what it means and then to sell a magazine say Michael Phelps is dating a MAN. I have cried now for an hour, thrown up anything in my system till I dry heaved. I just can’t believe this is happening in 2014!”