Tommy Dorfman on transitioning after '13 Reasons Why': 'It stunted some of my growth'

A year after publicly re-entering the world as a trans woman, Tommy Dorfman reflects on the impact her career in Hollywood has had on her gender identity. The '13 Reasons Why' alum - who starred in the Netflix original series from 2017 to 2020 - revealed in an interview with Time in July 2021 that she "identifies and lives privately as female." During an Aug. 15 episode of the "Broad Ideas with Rachel Bilson" podcast, she got more candid about her acting debut and how it influenced her transition.

"...it delayed part of my growth and part of my maturation in my mid-twenties."

"During those early years of work, I was just trying to figure myself out," Dorfman said. "I think if I hadn't booked this job ['13 Reasons Why'], I would have started the transition much sooner. I think because my job is so connected to my body, my face and my identity , or whatever I was identified as, it stunted some of my growth and some of my maturation in my mid-twenties I also think I made decisions that just weren't aligned with who I really was or what I wanted, but out of fear."

Dorfman, who divorced her husband, Peter Zurkuhlen, in February after five years of marriage, added that looking back now, she feels she got married in 2016 because "it was like a safe and secure space that I could create for myself in an ever-changing world."

Dorfman also opened up about the timing of her transition, noting that she felt like she was "never the right age." "I always felt like I wasn't in the right place at the right time, I always felt like I wasn't really made for the world I was living in," he said. she stated. " . . . When I started transitioning, I was like, 'Oh, no, no, no, no, I'm totally made for this body, this time, and this world, I just...