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Teddy Geiger’s transition came after years of anxiety, self-medication and obsessive-compulsive tendencies.

The singer, who announced her transition via Instagram in October 2017, revealed to the New York Times that she felt female as young as the age of 5, but had never met a transgender person at that point in her life. She didn’t know they even existed until she reached her 20s — and by then, she had publicly been a male heartthrob to teen girls, with a successful music and acting career.

“I was going through adolescence and having sex for the first time, but it was in this really weird context,” the now-29-year-old said of her late teen years. “I didn’t have a real support group.”

After moving from the Big Apple to California to pursue songwriting for other artists, Geiger still didn’t feel like herself. Geiger says she suffered from severe anxiety and self-medicated with cigarettes and marijuana, which only exacerbated the problem.

She said she also had obsessive-compulsive habits that manifested themselves in keeping her nails perfectly polished and manicured. She explained, “It was the only femininity that I was expressing, so I wanted it to be so perfect. It was the only thing I could control.”

Geiger sought therapy in September 2017 to address her anxiety and “get to the bottom of the gender thing.”

As soon as she got home, “I threw away all my boys clothes and started wearing makeup.” She also quit smoking, using the money she saved to buy makeup and a new, more feminine wardrobe.

Geiger says her entire family and all of her friends have been incredibly supportive of her transition, especially singer pal Shawn Mendes, for whom she’s written several hit songs.

“It was the first time I ever saw her sober,” Mendes said of Geiger’s return from therapy. “She was like Teddy, but on steroids. There was this electricity running through her.”