Thomas Beatie shocked the world when he was pictured clutching his baby ʙᴜᴍᴘ. It’s been fourteen years since Thomas Beatie sat down for his first TV interview and told Oprah — and the world — how he could possibly be pregnant, as a man.
The father of four, now a stockbroker in Phoenix, spoke to TODAY Health about how he thinks the ᴛʀᴀɴs community benefited from the media attention his pregnancy ɢᴀʀɴᴇʀᴇᴅ, and how he and his family are doing today.
“When my story came out, there wasn’t a single person in the public eye as a ᴛʀᴀɴsgender man — most people had never heard of it,” Beatie, 47, said.
He shocked the world when he was pictured clutching his baby ʙᴜᴍᴘ. His marriage with the first wife, who was the mother of his three children– Susan,Austin and Jensen. Thomas, who had a sᴇx change but kept his ᴡᴏᴍʙ. When Thomas first ¬became pregnant in 2007, he was married to Nancy, who was 11 years his ¬senior and already had two daughters. Nancy had had a ʜʏsᴛᴇʀᴇᴄᴛᴏᴍʏ before their marriage in 2003 so couldn’t have more kids.
Thomas, who as a woman was called Tracy Lagondino, already lived as a man. Hormone ᴛʀᴇᴀᴛᴍᴇɴᴛ meant he looked like one too. But he’d kept his female sᴇx -organs which meant he could get pregnant.
In 2008, he gave birth to baby ¬Susan. He had his next two children in quick succession to limit the length of time he was off his hormone ᴛʀᴇᴀᴛᴍᴇɴᴛ. Without coming off it, he wouldn’t have been able to conceive. He had three children by he gave birth with the first wife Nancy. But in spite of everything he and Nancy had been through, their marriage broke down in 2012, when he was 38 years old.
But after finding new love, Thomas reveals he wants more kids. In 2016 he got married with the second one, They had a baby together in 2018, whom Amber gave birth to. He married the new love of his life Amber, who delivered his fourth child, Jackson, April, 2019
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In the future, Beatie wants to continue spreading awareness about the ᴛʀᴀɴsɢᴇɴᴅᴇʀ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ with public speaking, engage in diversity training, write a second book, and get into acting. Overall, Beatie is most proud of his family. “Basic bottom line, I love my wife. I love my children,” he said.
“I’m hopeful that in 10 years there will be way more support for men ¬having babies. Even though I’m the first legal male on record to have a baby, I’ve been contacted by ¬dozens of ¬ᴛʀᴀɴsgender men who want to do it too. I always say you can’t define what ‘normal’ is. The main thing is we’re happy, healthy and love each other. I’m the luckiest man in the world.”he added