Hunter Schafer baulks at activist label: “I’m just a tranny who’s famous”
Hunter Schafer has said she doesn’t consider herself a trans activist and also doesn’t wish to be thought of as such.
The actress first rose to fame playing trans teenager Jules Vaughn in Euphoria, but has become increasingly vocal about not wanting to be defined by her gender identity.
“I just happen to be a person who’s part of a marginalized community in the public eye, and people love to call me an activist,” she told Rolling Stone. “It’s like, ‘No. I’m just a tranny who’s famous,’ you know?”
Indeed, Schafer said back in April that she no longer wants to play transgender roles. “I worked so hard to get to where I am, past these really hard points in my transition, and now I just want to be a girl and finally move on,” she told GQ.
“I’ve gotten offered tonnes of trans roles, and I just don’t want to do it. I don’t want to talk about it.”
She added that she sometimes feels guilty given her responsibility in the trans community: “I know for a fact that I’m one of the most famous trans people in media right now, and I do feel a sense of responsibility, and maybe a little bit of guilt, for not being more of a spokesperson.
“But ultimately, I really do believe that not making it the centrepiece to what I’m doing will allow me to get further. And I think getting further and doing awesome shit, in the interest of ‘the movement,’ will be way more helpful than talking about it all the time.”
In other news, Schafer recently revealed that her relationship with Dominic Fike ended because he cheated on her.
Speaking on the August 7 episode of Call Her Daddy, Schafer said: “Part of why the relationship ended is because I got cheated on for the first time. It’s part of my truth, but that fundamentally changed me as a person.”
“You always know,” she continued, admitting she looked through his phone for confirmation. “Because I knew, I went to the phone—which I’m not proud of.”
Despite this, she admitted: “It was one of the cleaner breakups I’ve had. We both recognised that ‘This is not working and we can’t do this. We gotta go our own separate ways.’ It was so hard. We loved each other. He was a really special person.
“He saw me exactly as who I was, which was amazing.”
Schafer plays Gretchen, who moves to the German Alps to live with her father, but becomes disturbed when her father’s boss embroils the family in a sinister plot.
The film, which also stars Dan Stevens, premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in February and will be in cinemas from Friday (August 9).
With reviews now out, the film sits at a strong 79 per cent on the aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, with critics praising director Tilman Singer’s “inventive flair”, and singling out Schafer for particular praise.
Schafer is set to return as Jules for the third season of Euphoria, which has been delayed multiple times.
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Emma Wilkes
NME
