After a lifetime of being in the closet, Fulvia Pellegrino was finally able to change sexes and spent over $76,000 (3,800,000 pesos) to get the “Perfect Female Body”.
The 56-year-old Pellegrino endured several rounds of surgeries to appear what she looks like today. The surgeries include over 150 lip and cheekbone fillers, four boob jobs, and a series of liposuction.
Fulvia was born with the name Fulvio, and at the age of fifteen, she knew that she is a transexual. She kept it to herself and her religious family, most especially to her father who was in the clergy. She is even married to Marisa, his wife, for 32 years.
“I was living with my family who were very narrow minded and very religious. I never manifested my will because it was impossible with my dad. He had three sons and he wanted three sons only,” Fulvia said.
Right after their marriage, she started to go to gay bars and cross-dress privately in their garage. Meanwhile, she disguised her real identity by showing masculinity in public. He bought firearms and luxurious cars to conceal what had been waiting to come out.
But halfway through their marriage, she decided to come out to her wife, and that she wants a transition.
According to her, Marisa did not take it lightly, “Obviously, Marisa lost it for a moment, it is not something that is easy to accept. Today, Marisa and I are nothing more than two sisters. We live together, we argue like two normal people but not like husband and wife.”
She started to get a hormone therapy and research about plastic surgeries, but her parents are not as tolerant as her wife. They sent Fulvia to a psychiatric institution to make her change her mind.
Despite her family’s response to her decision, in 2004, she started to chase the “perfect” shape of a woman with breast implants, a nose job, and a facelift.
She continued with the surgeries and it includes fillers in her cheeks and lips, a butt lift, and a whole lot more, costing her $76,000 dollars.
She went broke.
Their restaurant stopped functioning, he sold their guns, cars and even their houses to be able to catch up with her expenses. They heavily relied on Marisa’s income as a therapist. The residents in their town, Peveragno, bullied them.
“I am now the clown of Peveragno. They point at me, they talk about me, they start inventing stories about me that I am a prostitute. My friends have all vanished – they didn’t accept me,” according to her.
Despite the discouragements, she still believes that she’s not perfect yet.
“I won’t stop here, I want to go ahead because it’s not perfect. If I reach perfection maybe I will stop.”