“I Am Jazz” star Jazz Jennings, who has shared her experiences as a transgender girl on reality TV, said she’s “doing great” after gender confirmation surgery earlier this week.
“I’m doing great, thanks for all of the love and support,” Jennings, 17, posted on Instagram Thursday with a post-surgery selfie from a hospital bed.
Jennings has starred on the TLC reality series “I Am Jazz” since 2015. Assigned male at birth, Jennings knew from preschool that she was actually a girl and began living as a female with the support of her family since the age of 5.
After long discussions and research, her parents decided on hormone treatments for her to stave off male adolescence. The reality series has focused on her experiences as a transgender girl and activist from middle school to high school, including issues with friends, dating, depression and an occasional vicious troll. Time magazine named her one of the country’s most influential teens in 2014 and 2015. The first transgender doll on the market was based on her.
In the last season, the discussion turned to gender confirmation “bottom surgery,” which Jennings obtained in June at an undisclosed hospital. The season involved doctor visits, possible complications and a need for Jazz to lose weight before the surgery.
Almost all comments on Jennings’ Instagram were positive. But former “Counting On” reality show participant Derick Dillard called the surgery “child abuse” in a tweet.
Dillard, who has attacked other members of the LGBTQ community, is married to Jill Duggar, one of 19 siblings of the Christian fundamentalist Duggar family featured on TLC’s “19 Kids and Counting.”
Dillard has attacked Jennings in the past. Last year he called Jennings’ program “non-reality,” adding that “‘transgender’ is a myth. Gender is not fluid; it’s ordained by God.”
Jennings tweeted at the time: “Every day I experience cyber-bullying, but I keep sharing my story. Today was no different.”
