Documentary narrated by Craig Kelly aired on Channel 4 on 11th December 2008.
“How do I feel about being a pregnant man? I don’t really feel like a mother. I feel more like a vessel, kinda renting my body temporarily just to bring this life into the world.” 4:15
They planned to keep the pregnancy a secret, but that became a problem when the birth raised a number of legal issues: by giving birth, would Thomas become the legal mother and father, or just the mother, or just the father? Looking for answers he wrote an article, ad the image of his pregnant body sent shock-waves around the world. Making front page news anywhere and everywhere, the family had paparazzi camping outside their house wanting to know the truth behind the image.
They decided to go on the Oprah Winfrey show to set the record straight that he was in fact pregnant with a real baby, going as far as to have an ultrasound that shows their unborn daughter moving and kicking inside of him. However, despite not disclosing his sex at birth on the show, this then led to news reporters making the “shocking revelation” of Thomas having been born a woman public knowledge.
Thomas, his wife Nancy and their unborn daughter then became exposed to an outpouring of hate and abuse from around the world. Opinions that due to Thomas’ previous testosterone usage, best case scenario the child would be born mutated, that due to her father having given birth to her she would automatically be severely screwed up.
The direct hate they received ranged from death threats to “I don’t believe in abortion, but I hope you miscarry”. Fox News broadcast a reporter commenting “This person has been taking testosterone for a long time, and even though he-she claims she stopped, that has still changed her body chemistry, so this little ewok that she’s gonna crap out might even have a third eye”. 9:30
The Beatie’s relocated from Hawaii to Oregon, making me wonder how this news would have been received had they stayed in Hawai’i considering the state’s forward thinking. Would the community have been supportive? Would they have added ‘Parent’ on the birth certificate in the same way they added ‘X’ on passports? Would they have protected the family from the hatred of the world? Thomas was pregnant in 2008, and the ‘X’ gender marker was not added until 2019, but in Australia was added in 2003, so could this have prompted passport and birth certificate changes sooner?
After his mother’s death, his father coaxed him into joining a modelling agency and to present as less of a tom-boy because he could “have any man he wanted” based on his looks, but his father did not understand that it was not about that. Thomas turned to martial arts, going as far as a black belt and competing. This was at the time he was starting to discover his sexuality, despite then being in a very controlling relationship with his sensei 18 years his senior. Bodybuilding was what led him to his now-wife Nancy, despite them having met when he was Tracy, and Thomas started to understand his feelings towards women and embrace them.
To change his sex to male on legal documents, at the time (2002) most states required that you had a letter from a doctor stating that surgery had taken place to alter their gender, which for Thomas was the removal of his breasts. After having chest reconstruction surgery, Thomas was able to change his sex to male on his birth certificate, passport, social security and drivers license which made “the biggest change in my life, from a legal standpoint”. 36:52
With his sex changed to male, Thomas and Nancy were able to become husband and wife, and after a few years wanted to start a family. Despite Nancy already having had two children, she was no longer capable of having a baby. Thomas had taken precautions and not removed his reproductive organs as he did not see them as female anatomy, but as a means to have a child, something that he has always wanted. However, by not having had his ‘female’ reproductive organs removed, this led many to question whether he could really be considered the pregnant ‘man’.
Thomas spoke to many men who also said they would carry a child if their wife was unable to, that they would not see themselves as less of a man and they were helping to provide for their family.
The time approached for the birth of their child, but because of the contracts they had signed to legally to stop other news crews and strangers photographing/filming Thomas and then later their daughter, also present in the birthing room are the Channel 4 news crew, an agency photographer from People Magazine, a man helping them write a book, and a couple of midwives. The photographer describes it as the most peaceful birth he’s ever seen, no crying or screaming, and that Thomas was “taking it like a man”. 45:44
The family allowed the news crew to leave a camera in the room as the birth approached, which ran out of tape after half an hour, and later Thomas and Nancy’s personal camera was asked to be stopped when other medical staff were called to the room as it appeared the baby was experiencing difficulty, and doctors considered whether a c-section was necessary due to the baby’s distress. After 13 hours of labour, the moment the pregnant man gave birth went unrecorded, but Thomas gave birth naturally to a healthy baby girl, Susan Juliette, at 9lbs 5ozs.
On leaving hospital, the paparazzi were waiting, and a few shaky seconds of baby Susan made the family global headlines once again. Thomas’ position as mother or father was called into question, which the family set straight that Nancy is the mother and is even breast-feeding Susan. For this she had to take birth control for several months until her cup size doubled and her body thought she had just given birth, and had so prepared her body in the necessary ways to take care of the child.
The People magazine article is released, with a double-page spread of Thomas and Susan captured “Daddy’s Little Princess”. It shows the family and their situation in a really positive, with beautiful pictures of their daughter. However, because of contracts, they must now not let another picture of Susan be released, with contracts going as far as to stop Nancy from emailing a picture to her two elder daughters, so the daughters flew in to meet their baby sister.
One daughter commented “I think our story really just tests boundaries and what we consider normal, and what we think we should be able to do or how the family has to work, and this just breaks those borders.” 55:40
While Thomas and Nancy adjust to being parents and enjoy the newfound love that comes with parenthood, the outside world continues to attack the family. Newspapers claiming to have ‘exclusive inside sources’ that the birth of their child has caused their marriage to fall apart, and Thomas refuses to leave the house because he “feels like a circus freak”. 56:46
Two months after Susan’s birth, the family’s contract with People Magazine ended and the family were able to take their daughter on her first trip out of the house to the park.
The documentary ends with text stating that “Thomas recently became pregnant for a second time. He and Nancy are hoping for a brother for baby Susan.” 1:00:18
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