Model Andrej Pejic had sex reassignment surgery, is now Andreja

Model Andreja Pejic was born male (formerly Andrej,) and took the world by storm with her androgynous beauty, but the 22-year-old has always identified as female. She’s recently come out as transgendered, and has undergone sexual reassignment surgery to transition to a woman.

She told Style.com that she’s never been unsure about who she is. “I figured out who I was very early on—actually, at the age of 13, with the help of the Internet—so I knew that a transition, becoming a woman, was always something I needed to do,” Andreja explains. “But it wasn’t possible at the time, and I put it off, and androgyny became a way of expressing my femininity without having to explain myself to people too much.”

The Serbian-born model moved to Australia with her parents and brother when she was nine. She had always favored girly things over “boyish” toys and activities, but when she turned 13, the societal pressure mounted to “put away the dolls and skirts” and start participating in sports with boys. She tried to fit in because she loved her parents, but it was also around this time that she learned about “sex change” by Googling on a computer at school. “The Internet gave me the sense that there were words to describe my feelings and medical terms,” she tells People.

Her mother, grandmother, and brother were all supportive of Andreja when she told them what she wanted to do, and they made a plan. She was to stay Andrej throughout school, but also started taking drugs to stop the progress of puberty. “I knew puberty would turn me into something like my brother and father,” she says.

Her dreams of sex reassignment were derailed for a few years when she landed a successful, gender-bending modeling career when she was 17. After a while, though, she decided to stop putting off what she had always dreamed of, and earlier this year she started the surgical procedures needed to change into a woman, though she hasn’t achieved a full transformation yet.

“To all trans youth out there, I would like to say respect yourself and be proud of who you are,” Pejic told GLAAD. “All human beings deserve equal treatment no matter their gender identity or sexuality. To be perceived as what you say you are is a basic human right.”

She posted a selfie on Facebook thanking her fans. “I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for the love and support throughout the years. You’ve all helped me through this journey and I have learned a lot and really come into my own and the response to today’s announcement truly overwhelmed me and reminds me of why I chose to do this publicly.”

She will now work only on female modeling jobs, and already has some gigs lined up for fashion week. Andreja also has a role in Sophia Coppola’s adaptation of The Little Mermaid. You can follow Andreja on Twitter @AndrejaPejic