Lilly Wachowski, ‘Matrix’ co-director, comes out as trans woman

The younger sibling of the Wachowski filmmaking duo has joined her transgender sister in transitioning from a man to a woman.

The former Andy Wachowski, 48, came out as Lilly Wachowski Tuesday in Windy City Times, an LGBT-oriented alternative weekly in Chicago, where the siblings live. Her sister Lana, formerly Larry Wachowski, 50 — whose films together include “The Matrix” trilogy and “Jupiter Ascending” — completed transitioning in the late 2000s with no announcement. By 2010 she was routinely referred to as Lana in Hollywood trade magazines.

“The ‘news’ has almost come out a couple of times,” Lilly Wachowski wrote in her lengthy statement. “Each was preceded by an ominous email from my agent — reporters have been asking for statements regarding the ‘Andy Wachowski gender transition’ story they were about to publish.” To her relief, she wrote, “The editors of these publications didn’t print a story that was only salacious in substance and could possibly have a potentially fatal effect. And being the optimist that I am, I was happy to chalk it up to progress.” She did not identify the publications.

Wachowski went public, she said, after being approached at home by a reporter for the British tabloid the Daily Mail, which she accused of having demonized a trans British schoolteacher, Lucy Meadows, and contributing to her suicide three months after the paper accused her of being a damaging influence on children. The Daily Mail said in a statement Wednesday that it denied trying to coerce Wachowski, and that an inquest into Meadows’ death found that her suicide note did not mention press coverage.

“Being transgender is not easy,” Wachowski wrote, saying that “you have to face the hard reality of living the rest of your life in a world that is openly hostile to you. I am one of the lucky ones. Having the support of my family and the means to afford doctors and therapists has given me the chance to actually survive this process. Transgender people without support, means and privilege do not have this luxury. And many do not survive. In 2015, the transgender murder rate hit an all-time high in this country.”

According to a Human Rights Campaign report, there were at least 21 transgender homicides in the first 10 months of 2015, more than in any other recorded year.

GLAAD spokesman Nick Adams said in a statement, “GLAAD is thrilled that Lilly Wachowski is able to be her true and authentic self,” while adding that “she should not have been forced to disclose her transgender identity before she was ready to do so.”

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