Monika: Were your husbands aware of your transgender past?
Aleshia: One husband of the four, the first husband whom I married twice, became aware of my history before we were remarried. After that fiasco, I had sense enough to keep my mouth shut – at the time that seemed the better way to go. I’m no longer so sure. Sometimes it seems at best a 50/50 type toss-up.
The ideal, of course, would be to be loved and accepted for the person you truly are. Life is not always ideal, is it? Still, were I to march down another aisle, I like to think I’d be doing so with a clean slate and a song in my heart.
Monika: What is your general view on the present situation of transgender women in American society?
Aleshia: There will be a short answer to this, being that I’ve already underscored that I am not an expert on today’s situation. In the broadest sense, however, I tend to believe that society tends to see and accept those who present themselves positively. Angry demands can be off-putting. And, yes, I’ve seen more than one situation in which negative attitudes were changed by putting forward one’s best foot, living life as the best woman one can be.
From my perspective, that offers one’s best chance for acceptance. I’m fully aware there are those who will find my life view Pollyanna, perhaps even offensive, but as I keep repeating, I speak only for myself.
From my perspective, that offers one’s best chance for acceptance. I’m fully aware there are those who will find my life view Pollyanna, perhaps even offensive, but as I keep repeating, I speak only for myself.
Monika: We are witnessing more and more transgender ladies coming out. Unlike in the previous years, some of them have the status of celebrities or are really well-known, just to mention Lana Wachowski in film-directing, Jenna Talackova in modeling, Kate Bornstein in academic life, Laura Jane Grace in music or Candis Cayne in acting. Do you think we will have more and more such women?
Aleshia: Successful role models can only be positive influences on those who come after. In time, one would hope, the gender in which one began life will no longer be a deciding factor for future success.
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| Aleshia in her 40s. |
Monika: At the same time sometimes we get horrible news about transgender women being killed or beaten just as in the infamous case of Chrissy Polis that was beaten by two teenagers in Macdonald’s because she used the ladies’ toilet. How can we prevent it?
Aleshia: Would that I had the definitive answer on how to best prevent abuse. Obviously, as any parent would warn their children, dangerous situations do need be avoided. That, of course, is a simplistic response. The victim can never be blamed, as was the sad truth of the Polis case.
Yet transition is undeniably a dangerous time, one during which needless risks are all too often taken. Understandable. During that awkward time, we try our fledgling wings. I too took needless risks during the transition, sometimes due to the frustration of life, I found myself imprisoning.
Sad to admit that no cautious words of quasi-wisdom could ever have kept me from venturing forth onto dangerous streets. As long as hatred and misunderstanding exist, so will the abuse.
Monika: Do you think that in our lifetime we could live to the day when a transgender lady could become the President of the USA?Yet transition is undeniably a dangerous time, one during which needless risks are all too often taken. Understandable. During that awkward time, we try our fledgling wings. I too took needless risks during the transition, sometimes due to the frustration of life, I found myself imprisoning.
Sad to admit that no cautious words of quasi-wisdom could ever have kept me from venturing forth onto dangerous streets. As long as hatred and misunderstanding exist, so will the abuse.
Aleshia: Frankly, my dear, I can’t quite picture the woman who’d want that role!
Monika: You acted in 8 movies: “The Love God” (1969), “Big Foot” (1970) “Hitched” (1971), “The Female Bunch” (1971), “Smokey and the Judge” (1980), “The Man With Bogart’s Face” (1980), “Hard Country” (1981) and “American Pop” (1981). Which roles did you like most?
Aleshia: Each of those films had its own rewards. “The Female Bunch”, for example, allowed a friendship to develop with our star that has lasted for over thirty years. With “Smokey and the Judge” I thought for sure I was having a career breakthrough. That wasn’t the case. “The Love God” was my first film and certainly my most glamorous role, plus Universal Studios sent me on a publicity tour with Don Knotts – that was hard to beat!
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| Aleshia in 2009. |
Monika: Apart from the movies, you acted in many theatre plays and television shows. Which were the ones you were mostly satisfied with as an actress?
Aleshia: My theatre tours by far offered my favorite and most rewarding roles. Hard to pick a winner. On seven different outings, I played the Monroe film role of ‘the girl upstairs’ in “Seven Year Itch”. That was great, great fun. I also played Joanna Markham seven times in “Move Over, Mrs. Markham”, a British bedroom farce. Can't very well ignore those roles that put bread on my table. “I did, however, absolutely adore my time as Neil Simon’s alcoholic lead character in “The Gingerbread Lady”.
Aleshia: My theatre tours by far offered my favorite and most rewarding roles. Hard to pick a winner. On seven different outings, I played the Monroe film role of ‘the girl upstairs’ in “Seven Year Itch”. That was great, great fun. I also played Joanna Markham seven times in “Move Over, Mrs. Markham”, a British bedroom farce. Can't very well ignore those roles that put bread on my table. “I did, however, absolutely adore my time as Neil Simon’s alcoholic lead character in “The Gingerbread Lady”.
Monika: For many years you were a successful model. Did you like the job? Was it difficult for a transgender lady to be accepted by the modeling community?
Aleshia: Ha! It might well have been 'difficult' -- had the modeling community known my history. I loved my time in modeling, but that was decidedly a time for being seen and not heard.Monika: Do you like fashion? What kind of outfits do you usually wear? Any special fashion designs, colors, or trends?
Aleshia: These days I give away far more clothes than I buy. Currently, I’m very fond of royal blue – but that, I’m sure, is a passing fancy. Can’t say I have been into ‘trends’ since the days when Mod was all the vogue.
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| Aleshia in 2010. |
Monika: Are you involved in the life of your local LGBT community?
Aleshia: I live in a very liberal community and continue to lecture in gender studies at our local university, as well as a few schools around California. Beyond that, and the interviews I am sometimes called on to give by authors of books on gender, I’m removed from the workaday world of the LGBT community.
Monika: You wrote your memoirs sequel: “Woman I Was Not Born To Be: A Transsexual Journey” (2001) and “The Woman I Was Born to Be” (2010)? Could you say a few words about them?
Aleshia: Thanks for asking, Monika. The books, as well as the similarly themed plays, are my babies, the story of my life that will hopefully live after me. Both books, bye the bye, are offered on Amazon.com, or through the publishers, Temple University Press and Blue Feather Books, Ltd. The initial memoir, “Was NOT Born To Be”, covers the early years and ends with the death of my mother in 1982. It was my mother’s death, and the absence of her ongoing support, that forced me to find my own footing in life. The sequel, “WAS Born To Be” is my favorite book, in that it chronicles a much happier and more fulfilling aspect of my life.
Aleshia: I live in a very liberal community and continue to lecture in gender studies at our local university, as well as a few schools around California. Beyond that, and the interviews I am sometimes called on to give by authors of books on gender, I’m removed from the workaday world of the LGBT community.
Monika: You wrote your memoirs sequel: “Woman I Was Not Born To Be: A Transsexual Journey” (2001) and “The Woman I Was Born to Be” (2010)? Could you say a few words about them?
Aleshia: Thanks for asking, Monika. The books, as well as the similarly themed plays, are my babies, the story of my life that will hopefully live after me. Both books, bye the bye, are offered on Amazon.com, or through the publishers, Temple University Press and Blue Feather Books, Ltd. The initial memoir, “Was NOT Born To Be”, covers the early years and ends with the death of my mother in 1982. It was my mother’s death, and the absence of her ongoing support, that forced me to find my own footing in life. The sequel, “WAS Born To Be” is my favorite book, in that it chronicles a much happier and more fulfilling aspect of my life.
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| Aleshia in 2012. |
Monika: Currently you are working on a novel titled “Southern Exposure” to be released this year. What will the novel be about?
Aleshia: The title has (again) been changed. I’m in final edits for “Bilbo’s Bend”, which will soon be released on Amazon’s Kindle. This is my first (completed) novel and is a coming-of-age story for the protagonist, Trey Bilbo. After the success of the first memoir, I began wondering what my life might have been, had gender reassignment not been available to me. Trey Bilbo presented the character through which I explored that theme, looking for answers.
Aleshia: Not only do I agree – I loudly applaud the sentiment. Dreams certainly do not end on an operating table, that surgical transition merely opens a door for the completed individual we may hopefully learn to become. It’s never an easy journey, but each plateau along the upward path offers its own rewards. I would never presume to tell others how to best live their lives; I can only hope that those so inclined will find their dreams fulfilled.
© 2013 - Monika Kowalska
Aleshia Brevard has passed to the other side. May she find the happiness and love she gave to others. Thank you for all you have done. Rest in
Peace.
1 July 2017
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Thanks for this grat interview. Read it for a second time. She was one of my heroes! Are you still active?
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