The truth about Zaya Perysian
Zaya Perysian is an American social media star famous for posting comedic content on TikTok. Perysian started her internet journey on YouTube, where she boasts a following of 162K subscribers. However, her recent activity on YouTube is sporadic at best, with the last video on her channel premiering nine months ago.
Perysian is much more active on TikTok, where she entertains her 3.1 million followers with regular content. Zaya’s Instagram page mostly contains photos of her best looks and the occasional video from TikTok. This piece will look at Zaya’s family and their reaction to her transition, and Zaya’s transition process.
Zaya’s father condemned her when she came out as gay and cut her off when she came out as trans
Zaya Perysian was born on 30th April 2002 in Lowell, Michigan. She struggled with gender dysphoria from a young age, as her gender identity didn’t match with the sex assigned by doctors at birth. Zaya felt like a girl trapped in a boy’s body.
She tried to fight it by participating in sports and dating girls, but it never felt real. “It’s been like this forever, where I am so uncomfortable in the body I was born in,” she said in a video titled I am Transgender. “I tried my best to act like a boy, but it never felt right. I was terrible at sports. I tried dating girls. I wouldn’t kiss girls; I would barely hold their hand or hug them. I tried.”
Zaya initially came out as gay to her family. Everyone in her family, other than her dad, accepted and supported her decision. Perysian had a close relationship with her dad before coming out as gay. After the gay announcement, Zaya and her religious dad started to drift apart.
According to Zaya, her dad doesn’t support the LGBTQ+ community whatsoever due to his upbringing. “I am so fortunate,” Zaya said. “Even though my dad is ‘homophobic’ and ‘transphobic,’ he still loved me and he expressed his love for me, but he also expressed his concern for my ‘sins’.”
Zaya first came out as trans to her older sister. She was afraid about telling her mom, but she gathered the courage to do it, and it went better than she expected. “I was hiding for 18 years,” Zaya said. “My mom, who she is, was like, ‘About time!’ My mom knows everything.” Zaya’s stepdad was also supportive, but she wasn’t sure how her biological dad would react.
She first broke the news to her stepmom, who later informed Zaya’s father. The announcement seemingly severed any remaining ties between Zaya and her father. “I think I’ve talked to my dad once since that,” Zaya said. “I’ve seen my dad once since I came out and he gave me a thirty-minute lecture on why I am going to hell.”
Zaya can’t thank the rest of her family enough for their support. “I am still very fortunate that I am not in a place where I could be disowned or beaten or killed by my own family,” Zaya added.
Zaya is eight months into her hormone treatment and is looking forward to sex reassignment surgery
Zaya’s transition will eventually culminate in sex reassignment surgery, but she has to take hormone treatments for at least a year before qualifying for the surgery. “When you start your transition, it is a slow, long, [and] painful process,” Zaya said. “You have to be on hormones for at least a year to two years before they allow you to get surgery.”
The hormone treatments prepare the body for surgery. Zaya takes testosterone blockers and estrogen to help with her transition. She’s been on the treatments for eight months now, and they have put her a step closer to having the surgeries.
In a recent TikTok video titled 8-Month Hormone Update, Zaya thanked her fans for supporting her and putting her in a financial position to afford her surgery. She said:
“I have some exciting news. In this video, I just want to say thank you to you guys. Thanks to y’all, I have been granted many amazing opportunities through social media that I am now in a place financially where I can afford to get my surgery and complete my transition. I can’t believe I am saying that because I never thought I would come this far.”
Zaya expects to have fully transitioned by the end of 2021 or early 2022.