Monday, February 20, 2023

Eddie Izzard: She/Her

Eddie Izzard doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about. In December, it was reported that the standup comic/actor/campaigner/ endurance runner had adopted the pronouns “she” and “her” and wanted to be “based in girl mode” from now on. Well, it hardly came out of the blue, she says today. Izzard had spent the past 35 years building up to it, and when she did finally make the announcement it happened by chance. 

A few months earlier, Izzard had been a guest on the Sky Arts series Portrait Artist Of the Year, and was asked, for the first time, which pronouns she preferred. She replied “she and her” and never gave it another thought. By the time the programme was broadcast, Izzard had forgotten about the conversation. And suddenly she was headline news.

The funny thing, Izzard says, is that she had first announced she was trans in 2017 in the Hollywood Reporter and nobody had taken a blind bit of notice. But this time it was different. Within hours of the show being broadcast everything had changed – her Wikipedia entry and IMDb history were revised, and every media organisation was running stories about how he had become a she. Actually, Izzard says, she had not intended to be so definitive about it. She had always talked about being in boy mode most of the time and girl mode part of the time, and she was still hoping to keep her options open. For her first half century, boy mode had dominated, and now it was time for girl mode to take centre stage, but on occasions she would still like the freedom to be a he. She soon discovered that wasn’t an option, though.

Take, for example, the new Netflix series she is currently working on in Manchester. In the adaptation of Harlan Coben’s thriller Stay Close, Izzard plays a small-town lawyer called Harry. “As I’m playing a male role, I suggested people should go back to calling me he and him for this, and what the world seems to have said to me is you can change your pronouns but you can’t use he and him as well. You’ve just got to be she and her from now on because we’ve only got so much time on our hands, thank you very much.” How does she feel about that? She beams. “Great. I’ve been promoted to she, and it’s a great honour.”

Click here to read the rest of this article from The Guardian by Simon Hattenstone.


Source: Ann Taylor
Wearing Ann Taylor


Matt LeBlanc, David Birkin, James Cosmo, Eddie Izzard
Matt LeBlanc, David Birkin, James Cosmo and Eddie Izzard femulating in the 2002 film All the Queen's Men.

7 comments:

  1. Stana, I hope you're doing well after your surgery. I had arthroscopic surgery on my left knee 3 weeks ago and I'm just now getting up and about without pain. The physical therapy that I initially scoffed at has turned into a godsend. I actually felt better after the last PT session. The therapist is stretching muscles in my legs that don't really get stretched just walking. My legs are starting to look better than they have in quite a while. I'm not ready for heels yet, but soon. Get well soon, take care and do the work. It's worth it. Randi

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  2. Eddie has long been a bit of a hero for me, I have always enjoyed her stand up, and it was one of her acts that first inspired me to have a go!

    She got a lot of issues around her standing to be elected as teh Labour Party prospective candidate for Sheffield ~ although she didn't get elected the hate publicly directed at her for being trans was frightening, and may well put off others thinking of standing.

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  3. Thanks for the Eddie up date I wish her luck on her career in politics that would be great for trans people everywhere. Sallee

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  4. There actually is an openly trans Member of Parliament in the UK https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/politics/bridgend-mp-jamie-wallis-says-23539903

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  5. I may be one of the few people who actually SAW the film "All The Queen's Men". I liked it, in spite of the odd casting of Matt LeBlanc.
    I have also long enjoyed Izzard's stand up work - she is also a name that gets me to watch something. "Eddie Izzard is in it? Let's give it a go."

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  6. Hmmmmmm. Probably just a coincidence that Eddie Izzard is shown in a gorgeous houndstooth dress.

    I love that Izzard is using fame to show the world, "I am who I am" and showing us that it's a good thing to be who you really are. It doesn't hurt anyone and the jerks who are trying to make some "evil thing" of it are just doing it for political positioning. Taking a hard look at their rationalizations reveals something akin to a house of cards.

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    1. Eddie's houndstooth dress was the first thing that caught my attention!

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