Laith Ashley Wiki, Biography
Laith Ashley, a trans model, actor, activist, and singer who co-starred with Taylor Swift in the music video for the latter’s song Lavender Haze, has become the talk of the town for all the right reasons.
Many have praised Swift for representing the transgender community in casting Ashley in Lavender Haze. The 33-year-old singer-songwriter’s latest song is part of her tenth studio album Midnights. The official video for the song garnered over 7.7 million views in just two days of its release.
While Taylor Swift fans are busy checking out Lavender Haze, many are also curious about Laith Ashley, who has graced the covers of multiple fashion and lifestyle publications.
Taylor Swift’s co-star in Lavender Haze, Laith Ashley, is a well-known activist for transgender people.
Laith Ashley was born as a girl into a Dominican-American household in New York. During a previous interview, the model herself mentioned being aware of “something different about himself” when she was four or five years old, but only learned of the term transgender when she was 19 years old.
Ashley grew up Christian and was locked up for years due to her family’s religious beliefs. In another interview, Ashley also mentioned “praying her gay way” due to the conflicting opinions she had of her due to her religion.
However, when Laith was 17 years old, she finally came out as gay in front of her family after discovering her feelings for a girl. She never addressed herself as a lesbian and admitted that she did not like the term “lesbian”, despite believing that she was.
As mentioned, Laith learned of her trans identity at age 19 after finding YouTube videos of people like him documenting her transitions. Finally, he came out as trans in November 2013 and began his transition process in January 2014 at the age of 24.
Ashely chose Laith as a new name for her transgender identity, and she went on to work as an activist for homeless LGBTQ+ youth after studying psychology at Fairfield University in Connecticut.
After overcoming transphobia, Laith Ashley’s modeling career began in 2015 and she has since worked for various campaigns including Barney and Calvin Klein. Ashley also orchestrated the story after becoming the first transgender man to appear in Diesel’s campaign.
In addition to her modeling career, Laith Ashley has also worked as an actor and singer while appearing on multiple shows. Her most recent project was Taylor Swift’s Lavender Haze, where she appeared as the love interest of the 11-time Grammy Award-winning singer.
For those who don’t know, Swift self-directed the Lavender Haze video released on January 27 of hers on her YouTube channel. The Anti-Hero singer tweeted the same as she credited Laith Ashley, who she “loved working with.”
The trans model responded to the pop icon by thanking him on Twitter, as she wrote:
“Thank you so much @taylorswift13 for allowing me to play a small part in your story. You are brilliant and this is an experience I will never forget.”
In another tweet, Laith Ashley thanked Taylor Swift again, mentioning that he was “speechless and trying to get himself and her thoughts in order” while also feeling grateful.
Read Also: Sayfullo Saipov Wiki, Biography, Age, Family, Height, Charged, Fast Facts