Cross-dresser is thankful wife accepts him as woman

Bridget (not her real name), 36, is opting to remain physically male, so she can remain married to someone she considers the love of her life.

The landscaper, 36, says: "It's a compromise. If it weren't for my family, I probably would have gone for a sex change operation.

"For now, I'm content to be as true to myself without surgery."

Though still a married man with kids, Bridget requests that we call her "she" and use a female name.

When The New Paper on Sunday met her and her wife, Julia (not her real name), in person at a mall last Friday, Bridget was dressed in a woman's top, scarf, slacks, shoes and carrying a small black handbag. Julia, an engineer, was dressed more sedately in a denim skirt and a black short-sleeved top.

Bridget reveals that she's been crossdressing since the age of 10. As a child, she wore her mother's chiffon skirts when nobody was looking, and wore knee-high stockings under her uniform. Over the years, she has worn dresses, frilly skirts, leggings, dresses, heels and nail polish.

She has multiple earrings on each ear. She has around 250 scarves at home - all women's. She coquettishly says: "They are my one indulgence. I've almost lost count of how many I have.

"I'm a woman trapped in a married man's body. "My brain is female. I have a feminine sense of design and taste."

But all this while, she's still attracted to women. She says firmly: "I'm neither gay nor a transvestite (a man who dresses in women's clothes)."

In fact, she says that she is still very much in love with her wife. They met when they were 16. They clicked instantly and could talk about almost everything.

They soon became best friends, and eventually entered into a relationship.

Two months in, Bridget confessed to Julia about liking to wear girl's clothes.

Julia says: "At the time, I was surprised but I thought it might be a phase or a quirk."

They continued to date and got married when they were 28.

Their sex life was healthy, says the couple. They had their first son at age 32 and their second at age 34.

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