Hunter Schafer is trying to move past taking trans roles.
The Euphoria and Cuckoo star is the center of a wide-ranging GQ cover story where she opened up about her past relationship with Spanish singer Rosalía and other topics, including how she wants to move on from playing trans roles (at least for now).
Schafer has played troubled trans teen Jules in the popular (and controversial) teen drama series Euphoria since 2019, and has become one of the most recognizable trans celebrities in the world. Now, she says, she just wants to be girl.
Schafer told GQ that she’s been trying to avoid even talking about her trans identity in interviews.
“As soon as I say it, it gets blastoff,” she says of talking about her trans identity. “It took a while to learn that and it also took a while to learn that I don’t want to be [reduced to] that, and I find it ultimately demeaning to me and what I want to do.”
“Especially after high school, I was sick of talking about it,” Schafer said, referring to how she was a very visible trans activist as a teen before she became an actress. “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.”
“It’s a privilege, but it’s been very intentional. I’ve gotten offered tons of trans roles, and I just don’t want to do it. I don’t want to talk about it,” she said.
“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,” Schafer says. “But ultimately, I really do believe that not making it the centerpiece 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.”
We really understand where Schafer is coming from. After you’ve been in the public spotlight for a decade as a trans person, the exhaustion really catches up with you.
Still, we also hope that she starts getting offered better trans roles. Maybe if people would write better trans roles that don’t feel like the character is being forced in a box or reduced down to just one thing, Schafer would be more open to taking trans roles.