“Pose” star Indya Moore is the first transgender woman to land the cover of Elle Magazine. The actress and model appears on the cover of Elle’s June 2019 issue.
The 24-year-old told Elle that her parents were confused when she was assigned male at birth but acted feminine as a child.
“Because I was assigned male at birth, they expected me to be masculine or to perform the way they thought young boys should perform. And I did not. They didn’t understand. They had never experienced what it was like to have a family member who was genderqueer,” Moore says.
Moore left home when she was 14 years old. She revealed that she became the victim of sex trafficking when she was a teenager. She says when she was 16 years old she was contacted by people on Facebook who offered her money for hormone therapy in exchange for sex.
“They told me that they had a lot of friends who were trans and they wanted to help me in my process, and that they could help me to get the money that I needed to be a woman,” the star recalled. “They told me that all I had to do was play with these men who will come in for a moment to see me and play with me and then they’ll give me money,” Moore says.
Moore agreed and participated several times. She says she “didn’t understand” what sex trafficking was at the time.
She received her big break on Ryan Murphy’s “Pose” as the beautiful prostitute Angel who falls in love with one of her clients, Stan Bowes (Evan Peters), who works in Trump Tower. Moore told Elle she knew the role would be groundbreaking for her.
“I just knew my life was going to change. I knew I had a chance to teach the world something that would help more people to be safe,” Moore says.
“Pose” season two returns on June 11 at 10 p.m. on FX.
