photographer DEVIN KASPARIAN @devinkasparian
hair IGGY ROSALES @hairbyiggy
makeup GILBERT SOLIZ @gilbert_soliz
At this year’s Grammy Awards, the world was watching as Kim Petras became the first out transgender performer to triumph in a televised category — for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, alongside Sam Smith for their ubiquitous hit “Unholy.” (Previously, Wendy Carlos won three Grammys in 1970 for her electronic classical album Switched-On Bach, nine years before she came out as a trans woman.)
In her historic acceptance speech, Petras thanked her mother for believing her when, as a youth, she first declared she was a girl. It was an impromptu moment. The “Heart to Break” singer had written up a more traditional speech full of names and acknowledgements, but she scrapped it minutes before her category was announced.
“I literally was very suicidal as a kid, and I just wouldn’t still be here had my parents not believed me,” she says. “So, I was like, ‘OK, first thing, I’m going to thank the person who’s responsible for me being alive.’”
As a young girl growing up in “the middle of nowhere, Germany” in the early aughts — she was born in Cologne — Petras first became internationally famous when she publicly discussed her gender journey on television at age 13. At the time, the press deadnamed and misgendered her constantly. And while much of the coverage was somewhat positive, it also treated her like a medical oddity, inviting audiences to scrutinize her teen body and mind.
While life
