In an ELLE cover interview published Monday, October 19, Hunter Schafer, 27, revealed she underwent gender-affirming bottom surgery in December 2025.

"I just had bottom surgery in December, which was amazing, and I love it so much," she told the magazine, per Page Six, Us Weekly, Rolling Stone Australia and The Express Tribune. Bottom surgery is an operation that changes a person's genitals to align with their gender identity.

Schafer framed the disclosure as worth sharing publicly because of the tension she feels between queerness as an idea and how it works "in real life, in the context of the world that we're living in."

The reveal is striking because Schafer had long said she wanted to keep her body ambiguous.

"For a long time I've embraced the gender-expansive part of myself, and I really wanted to try to make that previous body work, because I thought there was something really cool and badass about it," she told ELLE, as Rolling Stone Australia and Page Six report.

ELLE notes her understanding of her gender is now "flatter." "I'm a woman. I'm a girl," she said, describing queerness ideologically as about "possibility and expansion and growth, and being on that journey and finding yourself."

Schafer gave concrete details about the operation's aftermath. According to Us Weekly, she rented a large apartment during her early-2026 recovery and invited friends and family to visit while she was on mandatory bed rest.

"I think my limit was 150 steps per day, which is nothing," she recalled, a detail ELLE also describes. She began transitioning at 14, which multiple outlets including Page Six and The Express Tribune note, making this late-stage medical step the culmination of a journey she began as a teenager.

The interview marks a notable shift in Schafer's public posture. In 2024 she told GQ she did not want to be pigeonholed or reduced to being trans, saying she had turned down "tons of trans roles" because she found the label ultimately demeaning, according to Us Weekly.

Schafer acknowledged the weight of her platform.

"I know for a fact that I'm one of the most famous trans people in media right now, and I do feel a sense of responsibility, and maybe a little bit of guilt, for not being more of a spokesperson," Us Weekly quotes her as saying, though she believes not making identity the centerpiece of her work will let her "get further" and be more helpful to "the movement."

Rolling Stone Australia adds that last year, after a Trump executive order on identification documents, her new passport was marked male despite her applying as female — which she said made life harder but would never change her transness.

The reveal arrives as Schafer promotes a packed slate. Rolling Stone Australia reports she recently appeared in the third and final season of Euphoria, reprising her role as Jules Vaughn, and in the psychological pop-star thriller Mother Mary.

In November she will appear in the TV series Blade Runner 2099 alongside Michelle Yeoh.