Lilly Wachowski, one-half of the filmmaking duo behind The Matrix has come out as transgender. Lilly, who was formerly known as Andy Wachowski, made the announcement via a statement to Chicago’s Windy City Times, after saying she had been threatened with outing by a journalist from the Daily Mail. In 2012 Lilly’s sister and collaborator Lana also came out as a transgender woman.

Wachowski titled her statement ‘SEX CHANGE SHOCKER—WACHOWSKI BROTHERS NOW SISTERS!!!’ “There's the headline I've been waiting for this past year,” she wrote. “Up until now with dread and/or eye rolling exasperation.”

The 48-year-old said that the “news” had almost come out a couple of times in the past, but on Tuesday night a journalist from the UK’s Daily Mail had visited her home and told her she ‘really had to sit down with him tomorrow or the next day or next week so that I could have my picture taken and tell my story which was so inspirational! ‘

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Wachowski went on to reference the story of Lucy Meadows, a primary school teacher and transgender woman who took her own life in 2013 after the publication of a Daily Mail article titled ‘“He’s not only in the wrong body … he’s in the wrong job”.

"Though we have come a long way since Silence of the Lambs, we continue to be demonised and vilified in the media where attack ads portray us as potential predators to keep us from even using the goddamn bathroom,” Wachowski continued.

“I'm out to my friends and family. Most people at work know too. Everyone is cool with it. Yes, thanks to my fabulous sister they've done it before, but also because they're fantastic people. Without the love and support of my wife and friends and family I would not be where I am today.”

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The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) have responded to Lilly Wachowski’s statement by writing: “GLAAD is thrilled that Lilly Wachowski is able to be her true and authentic self today, however, she should not have been forced to disclose her transgender identity before she was ready to do so,” said Nick Adams, the director of programs for Transgender Media.

“Journalists must learn that it is unacceptable to out a transgender person, in the same way it is unacceptable to out a person who is gay, lesbian, or bisexual.” Lilly’s sister Lana came out as a transgender woman in 2012 and later that year she was honoured with the Human Rights Campaign's Visibility Award.