Christine Jorgensen, original name George William Jorgensen, Jr., (born May 30, 1926, , New York, U.S.—died May 3, 1989, , California), American who captured international headlines in the early 1950s as the first person in the to undergo a successful operation.
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From an early age, Jorgensen was tormented by feelings of being a woman trapped inside a man's body. Jorgensen served in the U.S. Army (1945–46), moved to , and worked at various fields.
After being treated with extensive psychotherapy and a series of hormone injections, Jorgensen underwent several surgical operations and, with the announcement of her transformation in 1952, became an instant celebrity.
She lived comfortably on the proceeds of her lecture and nightclub circuit and from royalties from her book Christine Jorgensen: A Personal Autobiography (1967), which was adapted into the film The Christine Jorgensen Story (1970). Jorgensen, who never married, battled bladder and in her final years.
Christine Jorgensen, a U.S. Army veteran and Bronx native, was the first American woman to publicly announce her gender reassignment surgery. Following reports of her transition in the 1950s, she embraced fame and acted as a spokesperson for transgender people.
''At first I was very self-conscious and very awkward,'' Jorgensen said in a 1970 interview, according to her New York Times obituary. ''But once the notoriety hit, it did not take me long to adjust.''
Jorgensen gave countless television interviews, performed in nightclubs, wrote books and even lectured on college campuses. She said lecturing was her life's "greatest pleasure," estimating in a that she had spoken with over 200,000 students.
"I find on college campuses, it's incredible. The acceptance is marvelous," she said in a , adding that university students "felt that I did my own thing during a period when people were not doing their own thing."
