VANCOUVER – The first transgender supermodel in Canada grew up with a loving mom who proudly supported him through his transition.
But even Krow, whose incredible career has seen him walk the runway for Louis Vuitton and Alexander McQueen, says he felt apprehensive about coming out as trans to his mother.
“Even though you know that your family loves you, some people, they believe their family loves them and as soon as they come out, suddenly that love is just cut off immediately,” Krow said in an interview with CTV Morning Live on Friday.
But Krow wasn’t cut off. His mother, Lisa Jacobsen, worried about him at first, but quickly turned her focus to supporting her son through his transition.
“My daughter was never really my daughter,” Jacobsen said. “I didn’t know that at the time, but now that I’ve gotten to know my son, I realize it’s the same person either way. And the love is still there. The person is still there.”
Krow’s journey from successful “female” model to his transgender modeling debut at Paris Fashion Week is the subject of a new documentary – Krow's TRANSformation – that’s airing on OUTtv next Wednesday to coincide with the Transgender Day of Remembrance.
Krow said he hopes his story will help people understand more about what transgender people experience through the transition process, both physically and emotionally.
“I think that a lot of people sometimes don’t even realize how many transgender people are in their life – whether it’s family members, or friends, maybe coworkers even,” Krow said.
“So having this documentary that shows the actual transformation process of going through the hormones and the surgeries, the emotional mental journey, I think that really brings a lot of (awareness to the subject).”
The documentary also features Krow’s mother and the way she processed the transition. Jacobsen said she’s since had a lot of parents reach out and ask for advice about supporting their own children, and her main lesson is a simple one: just listen to them.
“Listen and understand that those kids are your kids, and some of them are confused and don’t know which way they want to go with things. Leave them the room to be able to make those choices,” Jacobsen said.
The day before the documentary airs on TV, it will also be screened at the B.C. legislature – something Krow said is encouraging just a few years after B.C. updated its Human Rights Code to include explicit protections for gender identity and expression.
“The fact that the legislature wants to see (this documentary) and kind of understand more about trans people and what we go through is I think a really important step,” he said.
