The nonbinary star responds to gender-affirming surgery critics — specifically those those who wonder, “What if you feel regret?” — while opening up about how it’s changed their life for the better.

Yellowjackets star Liv Hewson is opening up about their recent top surgery, while also responding to conservative critics of gender-affirming care in a new profile with Teen Vogue.

Hewson, who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, underwent top surgery before the second season of the Showtime series and shows off the results by rocking a black blazer with nothing underneath in a photo spread for the publication (below).

“I cannot tell you the complete, fundamental shift that I have felt in the year since having surgery. I knew that I wanted top surgery for a decade; it’s the longest I’ve ever thought about doing anything,” Hewson explained. “The place where I went, I had that clinic’s website open on my laptop for five years. It was this impossible mountain: I want that, but I’m never gonna get it. No one’s gonna let me, blah, blah, blah.”

JJ Geiger/Teen Vogue

“I stand differently, I walk differently, I carry myself differently,” they said of how their life has changed since the operation. “It feels different in my body than it ever has. I have just never been happier. I’ve never been more centered. I’ve never felt more stable and present and alive. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done for myself. It’s taught me a lot.”

In the same profile, Hewson responded to critics of gender-affirming surgery who wonder whether they’ll have any regrets after going under the knife.

“In terms of ‘What if you feel regret?’: Is the idea that nobody ever feel regret about anything? Aside from the fact that we have complete statistical information about regret rates of gender-affirming surgery and this is an absolute nonstarter, what? Are you also going to legislate against people getting tattoos?” they said. “It’s just control: ‘I want you to make decisions based on my level of comfort with your existence.’ That is completely irrational.”

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They went on to call the ongoing controversy surrounding top surgery “really misogynistic,” feeling like the concerns are rooted in the belief that those assigned female at birth can’t make correct decisions around their own bodies. Hewson also addressed those who simply fear all surgery due to pain and fear, saying, “No, no, you misunderstand. It was painful before … I’m great now.”

“I am not going to entertain anybody’s disgust over my body. It’s my body, it’s healthy and strong and beautiful, and there’s nothing wrong with it. Point blank,” Hewson added. “I am who I am. Those like me are the way that we are. We’re alive now. We’re in the world right now, we’re not going anywhere, and you’re simply going to have to deal with that.”

They concluded: “I do not feel any shame or sadness or guilt or fear about the person I am. I don’t feel any timidity or uncertainty about my right to exist in the world.”

Read Hewson’s full interview here.

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