Hanne with husband John
‘Today might be one of the most important days in my life, I've decide to announce with you all I'm #intersex, read my story in USA Today,’ she wrote in an Instagram caption. ‘I want to bring awareness and put to light the irreversible unnecessary non consent surgeries we often go trough as kids.’
Hanne told USA Today that she's ‘proud to be intersex,’ but that she's ‘very angry that these surgeries are still happening.’
Born with the intersex trait known as AIS (Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome) and with internal, undescended testes, the model described how her parents were told that if she didn’t have surgery to remove them she ‘might develop cancer and I would not develop as a normal, female girl.’
She then underwent surgery at the age of 10 to have them removed. ‘I knew at one point after the surgery I could not have kids, I was not having my period. I knew something was wrong with me,’ revealing that she also had vaginal reconstructive surgery at the age of 18.
‘It’s not that big of a deal being intersex,’ she told the paper, wishing she knew then what she knows now.
‘If they were just honest from the beginning... It became a trauma because of what they did.’
Speaking about how proud he is of his wife, Hanne’s husband, fellow model John Swiatek said: ‘I am very impressed with her decision to advocate for intersex children in order to give them an opportunity to make up their own minds about their bodies, unlike the lack of options and information Hanne and her family (and many others) were given.’
Reaffirming her decision to go public with the matter, Hanne concluded her raw and honest interview with some words of encouragement to fellow intersex individuals.
‘You can be whoever you want. It doesn’t matter.'