In her memoir Transcendent, actor and activist Laverne Cox details a childhood marked by abuse, conversion therapy, and poverty in Mobile, Alabama. At age eight, Cox saved pocket money to buy a fan decorated with Japanese geishas, which became a cherished prop for imaginary performances. When she used it at school, teacher Mrs Ridgeway yanked her from class, paraded her before other teachers, and called her mother Gloria. Gloria, who often called Cox homophobic slurs, exploded in fury and signed her up for conversion therapy, which failed but reinforced the message that Cox was unlovable. Three years later, Cox attempted suicide.
Decades of Struggle in New York
Before landing her breakthrough role as Sophia Burset on Orange Is the New Black, Cox spent over 20 years living hand to mouth in New York City while taking acting classes and attending endless auditions. The book describes the exhausting burden of being gender non-conforming in public, with senses on high alert for hostility. “If something felt weird, I’d just start running. I didn’t need to find out what was up. I knew that my life was in danger,” Cox recalls. Back in her apartment, that tension turned into despair.
The Battle with Her Mother
The central conflict in Transcendent is between Cox and her mother Gloria, whose cruel warnings about ending up in a dress on the streets of New Orleans echoed into Cox’s adulthood. Gloria repeatedly told Cox and her twin brother Lamar they were disappointing and unaffordable. One day, after Lamar and friends broke a neighbor’s window, Gloria wordlessly took the children to their father’s home—a man they had never met—and left them with two suitcases. Their father inspected them and declared them “fucking freaks.” The next day, his wife deposited the children at a police station, and they were transferred to an orphanage for a month before Gloria retrieved them.
Understanding and Defiance
Cox relays these events not to settle scores but to understand her mother’s tyranny. Gloria endured severe financial hardship and grew up in an abusive household. Cox credits her for sending both children to the Alabama School of Fine Arts, where Cox specialized in dance and Lamar in visual art, setting them on career paths. Despite the pain, Cox nurtured an inner defiance that led her to embrace outré fashion, strut rather than scurry down the street, and eventually live as a trans woman raising awareness for others. The memoir portrays resilience and rebellion, with success as the ultimate revenge against decades of abuse and rejection.
Transcendent by Laverne Cox is published by Merky (£20).
