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WHEN Chelsea Jade found a strapping man who didn’t care that she was born a boy, she thought her dreams had come true. Then her handsome hunk revealed he wanted to be a woman too.

Chelsea, 28, was born a boy named Jonathan, but never felt like she fitted in and has been taking hormones to live as a woman for the last two years.

When she met Craig Spence, 24, online she thought her life was complete. But Craig had a secret - he wanted to become a leggy lady named Carla.

The revelation plunged the couple into crisis because Chelsea is not attracted to girls. But she was determined to stand by her man, even after he became a woman. Ten months later the couple from Belfast are planning their wedding after Chelsea asked Carla to marry her on Valentine’s Day.

Chelsea says: “Finding out that Craig wanted to be a woman was such a surprise because he hid it so well. He was quite a masculine guy and played football.

“I didn’t want to see my partner in girl’s clothes - it made me uncomfortable. I’m not sexually attracted to women and I’m not sexually attracted to Craig when he’s dressed as Carla.

“Of course we do have sex. But sexual attraction is not the main thing in a relationship. Love is the main thing and I do love her.”

(Image: Barcroft Media)

Chelsea met car salesman Craig online in May last year and they immediately hit it off. But five months later Chelsea discovered a series of sexy selfies Craig had posted on an internet dating site.

The amateur pictures only showed Craig’s body, but he was dressed in high heels and a short skirt.

Former fitness instructor Chelsea says: “I was shocked as he had never mentioned any interest in cross-dressing before.”

At first Craig insisted his cross dressing was just a sexual fetish, but Chelsea was not convinced. And a few weeks later Craig finally admitted the secret he had kept to himself since he was eight years-old - he wanted to become a woman. Chelsea was devastated.

She says: “I thought I had met a guy and even though I was transgender, I could live my life normally and no-one would have to know my past. That’s all I ever wanted, just to live life normally, to fit in and be happy.

“I had the perfect, normal life after so many years of turmoil and now that had been thrown into question.”

While Chelsea struggled with her boyfriend’s new identity, Craig felt liberated by the truth.

It gave him the confidence to start taking the same testosterone-blocking hormones as Chelsea in January this year and now is now living as Carla.

The couple, who live in the Republic of Ireland, are both currently living as pre-op transsexuals, but they have not ruled out having sex change operations in the future. Carla would also like to have rhinoplasty to re-shape her nose and make her look more feminine.

Carla, who now works for a banking helpline, says: “I’m a lot happier in myself because I can finally be who I want to be.

“Before I met Chelsea I wasn’t comfortable with myself. I always had a desire to be a woman and wear women’s clothes but I never really had the guts to do it.

“I was just scared of what my family would think, the friends I would lose and job security.

“But my family have taken it very well and they’re very supportive. It was surprising actually because I didn’t know what was going to happen. To be honest I thought I might have lost them when I told them.”

(Image: Barcroft Media)

Chelsea can relate to Carla’s fears after she was bullied during her years growing up as Jonathan in a small town in County Wicklow.

She always felt different to the other boys. At home she dressed in girl’s clothes and plastic heels and wore her hair in pigtails.

Doting mum Jeana was happy for her to play with dolls and skipping ropes dress. She also surrounded herself with female friends and rejected the BMX bikes and trucks that disapproving dad Jimmy bought for her.

But outside her home she found people were not so understanding or accepting of her desire to be a girl.

During a day trip to the beach, she was playing on the sand in a bikini and pigtails. But when mum Jeana saw her nursery teacher walking towards them, she quickly ordered made her hide behind a rock.

Chelsea says: “I wondered why she was making me hide behind a rock. For the first time it felt what I was doing was wrong.”

At school Chelsea was forced to leave the crop tops and plastic heels in the closet and live as a boy.

She says: “I always felt like I was a girl but a harsh reality set in when I joined school and realised that boys and girls were different and I had to be a boy.”

Coming out as gay at 13 didn’t help. Instead of finding peace, Chelsea became a target for bullies.

She says: “I was bullied every day by both boys and girls at my school, some of the girls were the worst.

“One day I was queuing for a class and a classmate was standing behind me jabbing the sharp end of a compass into my leg.”

(Image: Barcroft Media)

After Chelsea left school she immersed himself in the local gay scene but was still spiralled into depression.

She said: “I felt like I didn’t belong in any group, I felt totally alone.

“As I got older I began to feel really suicidal and unhappy in myself. I would take an overdose and then wake up the next day and I’d be thankful I wasn’t dead.”

It wasn’t until Chelsea was 26 that she discovered what the term ‘transgender’ when she stumbled across a video on YouTube. The clips followed a transgender woman making the transition from male to female and revealed her loneliness and confusion.

Suddenly Chelsea realised why she was so depressed. She needed to make the same change and live as a woman. With her parents’ blessing she began her own transformation.

Chelsea hid herself away in her bedroom for six months as she took testosterone blockers and wore oestrogen patches. She began to grow her hair and noticed breasts forming – but the changes were gradual.

(Image: Barcroft Media)

Chelsea says: “One morning I got up and my eyes looked different. They sparkled. People talk about happiness coming from within and I guess that’s what it was.”

Chelsea may have found happiness but she lost many of her friends and fitness clients who could not accept her new identity. But throughout the process her mum remained her strongest supporter.

And the first time Chelsea went out dressed as a woman for a friend’s 50th birthday party, her mum was by her side. Chelsea was so nervous when she arrived her fake tan was sweating off her skin.

She says: “I remember everyone was looking at me, especially the people I had been to school with.

“Eventually my mum went over to a group of guys who had been staring and she said: ‘If you don’t stop looking over there I’m going to punch your face in.

“The guy said: ‘Is that your daughter? She’s hot. I was staring over because I was going to ask for her number’.

My mum’s jaw dropped to the ground. It felt amazing.”

(Image: Barcroft Media)

Chelsea was determined to help others who were going through the same crisis she suffered.

She launched her own YouTube channel to support transgender people around the world and has helped countless people to find happiness.

Which is why Chelsea was determined not to desert Carla, even though she was not attracted to her as a woman.

She says: “I didn’t want anyone I cared about to go through such a bad time like I did.”

“What kind of person would I be if I didn’t help her through this?”

Chelsea decided the best way to prove she still loved Carla was to propose on Valentine’s Day.

Chelsea says “I bought Carla a few different presents for Valentine’s Day and wrapped them up. After she finished opening them I told her to close her eyes and brought out a chocolate cake from under the bed.

“I had hidden the ring in a box inside the cake in the middle so when Carla cut into it the cake the knife wouldn’t go all the way down. She was really surprised.”

“It was my way of showing her that I was serious about sticking around and supporting her.”

And Carla has big plans for the couple once she completes her transformation. She says: “We’ll obviously stay together and get married. I’d love to have children, one of each would be perfect.”