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Teddy Geiger Says Overcoming Shame Helped Her Transition
The Grammy nominated songwriter behind “In My Blood” says her collaborator Shawn Mendes was “super supportive.”
Teddy Geiger is best known as the writer behind massive hits like Shawn Mendes' "Stitches" and "In My Blood," and she's one of three trans women nominated for awards at the 2019 Grammys (alongside SOPHIE and Jackie Shane). Geiger recently spoke with CBS correspondent Vladimir Duthiers for the CBS This Morning podcast on Monday and spoke at length about her transition, during which she spoke at length about her working relationship with Mendes and her transition (in CBS's words, "confronting her truth," cue loving eye roll).
In the interview, Geiger spoke about coming out as trans on Instagram in 2017 and how Mendes reacted, saying "he was just super supportive ... I felt accepted and loved." She also opened up about the shame she experienced before transitioning.
"When I was growing up, I didn't know of anybody who was trans," Geiger said. "There was always this like shame, anxiety thing around all of that, even if I wasn't actively expressing it." According to her, it was when the songwriter was in group therapy for OCD and substance use that she was given a new perspective on what she was experiencing.
"I learned in one of the groups about shame and guilt ... and how shame thrives on secrecy ... So I told a couple friends about it," she said. "I was like 'hey, might be trans, might want to look at doing hormone therapy, just letting you know' ... and they were like 'Yeah cool. Who cares? Like whatever, awesome.'"
"The shame made it so much harder to accept ... I didn't want to accept that was actually going on with me ... but as soon as I let go of it, it became so much easier to just look at the whole thing clearly and be like okay, 'I am trans'. That's what's real for me ... how do I move forward now."
Now, Geiger is nominated for a Grammy for her work on Mendes music, and she also acknowledged the power of her and other trans artists finally recognized for their contributions to music. "It's cool for people to be able to see that and to have more artists and people who are trans just doing things and being visible."
RELATED | Teddy Geiger, Songwriter for Shawn Mendes & One Direction, Is Transitioning
