More: Many people remember seeing you as this adorable little blond girl with your parents on The Sonny & Cher Show. How old were you when you realized Chastity wasn’t who you are?

Chaz Bono: I would say around five or six, about the time when my memory kicked in.

More: Do you think it was harder for you than, let’s say, the average kid to come to grips with this because you were a public figure with two high-profile parents?
CB: At that age it wasn’t that hard yet because there is no real physical difference between boys and girls. It is how you dress and present yourself. When I was five I could be one of the boys and fit in quite comfortably. However, it starts to get harder when you hit puberty and the expectations change a bit.

More: Change? How so?
CB: One of the things you fully understand from a young age is if you are a boy or a girl. As a child you have a conscious thought and you know your identity.

More: What was it like living inside someone else’s identity?
CB: You accept your life for what it is. You don’t know people have it different than you.

More: Did you ever try talking to your parents about your struggle?
CB: With my dad, we didn’t really talk a lot—we didn’t need to talk. He always treated me the way I felt. As a kid, it was easy being with him. I got to express how I felt. There was never a struggle over toys or clothes. He let me be who I wanted to be. It was much harder with my mom.

More: Why?

CB: She had expectations, probably before I was even born, of what her daughter would be like and the relationship she would have with her daughter. I really didn’t fit that bill, so that was difficult.

More: When you think about it—you had to come out twice?

CB: Yes. Although they were both hard, it was harder the second time. Coming out as a lesbian was easier because I knew about gay and lesbian people, since we had a lot of gay and lesbian people in our lives who were great role models. I should also add that because we had a lot of great gay and lesbian people in our lives, there was no prejudice and you were not looked down on for your choice. Realizing I was transgender was so much harder because I didn’t know anything about this subject. I had so many of the same judgments and stereotypes in my head that I think other people may have.

More: Did your parents, or should I say, your mom, know?
CB: I think that my parents thought probably it was an issue of sexual orientation.

More: How has life changed since you underwent this procedure?
CB: It has changed in every way. Life is different. I didn’t realize that life could be so effortless. Everything before felt like a struggle, and now it doesn’t.

More: You are starring in a documentary special called Being Chaz, which will air on the OWN network on November 27. This film chronicles your transformation and life thereafter. Why go public with something so personal, and that brought you a lot of negative and unwanted publicity?
CB: I didn’t have a choice about going public. When I finally made the decision to do this I knew it would be public and there was nothing I could do to hide it. I would rather take control of the situation and put the story the way I want to put it out and hopefully help people in the process.

More: How brave.
CB: I don’t want to hide, look ashamed or not talk about it. I mean, it’s not like people wouldn’t have noticed. When you think about it, if I did stay holed up a tabloid would tell my story.

More: Since you touched on that subject, a publication like the one you just described outed you many years ago?
CB: Yeah, they did, as a lesbian, back in 1990.