KOEKSISTERS and cups of tea have been neatly laid out in the kitchen and her cosy nest of a cottage is filled with comfy couches and original South African artworks.
She describes her granny flat as fun and stylish with plenty of depth – “just like me”.
Elise Bishop certainly is stylish, elegantly dressed in a gold and black pants suit, her hair freshly done at a salon close to her home in Strand near Cape Town.
“That hairstylist is the first person I had to explain myself to after I moved here,” she says. “‘I was born a boy’, I told her.”
Elise (70) is the oldest known trans woman on record in South Africa, having undergone gender-reassignment surgery in the 1970s when she was 23 years old.
Her story made headlines in the early ’80s and she says she spent seven weeks on the front page of a Sunday newspaper. “More than any prime minister!” she says with a chuckle.
Elise has now written a book, Twee Lewens, which is currently being translated into English under the title Two Lives, about her journey.
She chronicles her experiences from being a little boy growing up in the Karoo to making history as the country’s first transgender woman.
“I’m transgender but this modern terminology still sounds so strange to me,” she tells YOU, sipping on a blend of rooibos and English breakfast tea.
“I’m a sex change, finish and klaar. That’s what I was and still am.”
ELISE was born Pierre van der Merwe in Graaff-Reinet on 12 June 1952 and spent most of her childhood with her grandmother, Georgie Barnard, and grandfather, Kwas Barnard.
This story is from the 4 August 2022 edition of YOU South Africa.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the 4 August 2022 edition of YOU South Africa.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
BALLON IN THE BAG
Manchester City midfielder Rodrigo Hernandez Cascante says his Ballon d'Or win is a victory for Spanish football
IT WAS ALL A LIE
A new doccie exposes the Grey's Anatomy writer who fabricated her life story
'I WILL NEVER GIVE UP'
After her husband, anticorruption activist Alexei Navalny, was poisoned and murdered by the Kremlin, she became the public face of Russia's opposition. In this candid interview Yulia Navalnaya opens up about life on the run, her perilous family life and why she's continuing her husband's fight to save their country
AGREE TO DISAGREE
Trevor Noah on how his childhood squabbles with his mother inspired his delightful new book
PAUSE THE CLOCK
Researchers have discovered that the ageing process spikes at 44 and 60. Here's what you can do to slow it down
MPOOMY ON TOP
We chat to SA's most popular female podcaster about love, loss and her booming success
MY BROTHER IS NOT TO BLAME
Tinus Drotské says his sibling, ex Bok Nǎka, is the victim in the brawl with a neighbour that landed up in court
MATT THE RECLUSE
A year after his friend's tragic death, the actor continues to shun the spotlight
A LEAP OF FAITH
After her husband tried to kill her by tampering with her parachute she thought she'd never trust a man again-but now she's found love
THEY'RE MY KIDS!
This West Coast woman treats her monkeys as iftheyre humans and animal activists are not happy about it