Caroline Cossey Article
Part of an article tracing past `Bond girls' in the Mail on Sunday Magazine
Night and Day April 16th 1995 ...
"Caroline began life as Barry. 004 William Leith sizes up the Bond `girl' who
didn't say `Dr., no!'"
Bond girls are usually forgettable. You see them, in their swimwear, in their
underwear and then they're gone. Sometimes they're on screen for half-an-hour.
Sometimes they even have lines. But where do they go? Caroline Cossey was only
on screen for a few seconds. She never said a thing. She was only a Bond girl
by the skin of her teeth. But boy do we remember her.
For many reasons, Caroline Cossey is an interesting Bond girl. A 6ft model,
she was one of a bevy of glamorous girls in a swimming-pool scene in For Your
Eyes Only. She was a hostess on the game show 3-2-1. She had a affair with a
famously suave sportscaster, Desmond Lynam. But most fascinatingly of all,
perhaps, she started life as a bloke called Barry.
Well, not exactly a bloke. Barry Cossey, although technically male, always
felt like a girl. That's why Caroline now hates to be referred to as a
`transsexual'. `It suggests a change from one to the other,' she told me from
her home in Atlanta, Georgia, where she is married to a buliding engineer
called David. `That's not how it is,' she said. `It's much more deep than that
My psyche was female.'
In fact, Barry was born, in 1954 with chromosomes which were neither precisely
male nor precisely female. In many ways, he was a girl - but he had male
genitals. `It was hard to sex me,' said Caroline. At one point, as Barry, he
had a sexual experience with a girl. `We were playing doctors and nurses,'
Caroline told me. `She took advantage.' But Barry desparately wanted to be a
proper woman. Sometimes he wore makeup and dresses. At the age of 17, he
decided there was only one thing for it. So he checked into Charing Cross
Hospital to have The Operation.)
Actually, Barry had to have three operations. First, he went under the knife
to have breasts built up on his chest. Then, there was a small operation to
reduce the size of his Adam's apple. And then, Caroline told me, there was
`the main one'.
As a woman, Caroline found work as a model and received plenty of male
attention. The operation has been a success. Men believed her when she told
them she was a woman.
When Desmond Lynam first met her, he had no idea she'd lived the first 17
years of her life as the confused Barry. `He was very attracted to me
physically,' said Caroline, in her slightly, but not terribly husky voice.
`We had a wild time together.' How did he react when he found out?
`His reaction was "Oh, God!" But he was a very intelligent person. He seemed
very centred within his own sexuality.' The sportscaster later proposed
marriage. Caroline turned him down. `We didn't get on over certain issues,'
she said.
Caroline realised that, in some ways life was less complicated if she didn't
reveal that she was still, according to some legal and technical definitions,
a man. When she auditioned as a Bond girl, she didn't mention her past life
as Barry or her operation. She was one of eight women chosen out of hundreds.
`They didn't know when they were filming,' she said. The part was small, and
non-speaking, even though she looked every inch the classic Bond girl - tall,
lean, big-haired and busty. And `Roger Moore was great to work with'. The
trouble was, Caroline says, `In the past, Bond girls had a lot more to do.'
She didn't play as much of a part in the film's publicity as she'd hoped for.
But publicity, of the wrong sort, sought her out. When the press found out
she'd been a man they had a field day.
In 1988, her live-in lover, Elias Fattal, proposed marriage. This was when
she decided to tell him the truth. He took it well, but decided not to tell
his parents, who were religious Jews. `His mum was shocked that I was a
Christian,' Caroline told me. The couple were married in a synagogue in
London. When Fattal's parents discovered their daughter-in-law's secret, and
he went to see them to talk things over, he never came back. The marriage was
annulled.
Now Caroline, 40, is living with an understanding husband. The first time he
asked her for a date, she told him to read her book, My Story. He still
turned up for the date. Now they appear regularly together on American talk
shows. They go fishing in freshwater lakes in Georgia. `You get these
incredible sied bass that freak you out.'
Caroline, she told me, is happy now. But sometimes she wishes she'd led a more
private life. I wonder if she wishes that she'd never auditioned as a good-
looking woman in a swimsuit, who had a walk-on part in the life of Roger
Moore.
---
*Sigh* there's nothing like a happy ending ... well ... not in my life
anyway.
Love,
Anna.
Part of an article tracing past `Bond girls' in the Mail on Sunday Magazine
Night and Day April 16th 1995 ...
"Caroline began life as Barry. 004 William Leith sizes up the Bond `girl' who
didn't say `Dr., no!'"
Bond girls are usually forgettable. You see them, in their swimwear, in their
underwear and then they're gone. Sometimes they're on screen for half-an-hour.
Sometimes they even have lines. But where do they go? Caroline Cossey was only
on screen for a few seconds. She never said a thing. She was only a Bond girl
by the skin of her teeth. But boy do we remember her.
For many reasons, Caroline Cossey is an interesting Bond girl. A 6ft model,
she was one of a bevy of glamorous girls in a swimming-pool scene in For Your
Eyes Only. She was a hostess on the game show 3-2-1. She had a affair with a
famously suave sportscaster, Desmond Lynam. But most fascinatingly of all,
perhaps, she started life as a bloke called Barry.
Well, not exactly a bloke. Barry Cossey, although technically male, always
felt like a girl. That's why Caroline now hates to be referred to as a
`transsexual'. `It suggests a change from one to the other,' she told me from
her home in Atlanta, Georgia, where she is married to a buliding engineer
called David. `That's not how it is,' she said. `It's much more deep than that
My psyche was female.'
In fact, Barry was born, in 1954 with chromosomes which were neither precisely
male nor precisely female. In many ways, he was a girl - but he had male
genitals. `It was hard to sex me,' said Caroline. At one point, as Barry, he
had a sexual experience with a girl. `We were playing doctors and nurses,'
Caroline told me. `She took advantage.' But Barry desparately wanted to be a
proper woman. Sometimes he wore makeup and dresses. At the age of 17, he
decided there was only one thing for it. So he checked into Charing Cross
Hospital to have The Operation.)
Actually, Barry had to have three operations. First, he went under the knife
to have breasts built up on his chest. Then, there was a small operation to
reduce the size of his Adam's apple. And then, Caroline told me, there was
`the main one'.
As a woman, Caroline found work as a model and received plenty of male
attention. The operation has been a success. Men believed her when she told
them she was a woman.
When Desmond Lynam first met her, he had no idea she'd lived the first 17
years of her life as the confused Barry. `He was very attracted to me
physically,' said Caroline, in her slightly, but not terribly husky voice.
`We had a wild time together.' How did he react when he found out?
`His reaction was "Oh, God!" But he was a very intelligent person. He seemed
very centred within his own sexuality.' The sportscaster later proposed
marriage. Caroline turned him down. `We didn't get on over certain issues,'
she said.
Caroline realised that, in some ways life was less complicated if she didn't
reveal that she was still, according to some legal and technical definitions,
a man. When she auditioned as a Bond girl, she didn't mention her past life
as Barry or her operation. She was one of eight women chosen out of hundreds.
`They didn't know when they were filming,' she said. The part was small, and
non-speaking, even though she looked every inch the classic Bond girl - tall,
lean, big-haired and busty. And `Roger Moore was great to work with'. The
trouble was, Caroline says, `In the past, Bond girls had a lot more to do.'
She didn't play as much of a part in the film's publicity as she'd hoped for.
But publicity, of the wrong sort, sought her out. When the press found out
she'd been a man they had a field day.
In 1988, her live-in lover, Elias Fattal, proposed marriage. This was when
she decided to tell him the truth. He took it well, but decided not to tell
his parents, who were religious Jews. `His mum was shocked that I was a
Christian,' Caroline told me. The couple were married in a synagogue in
London. When Fattal's parents discovered their daughter-in-law's secret, and
he went to see them to talk things over, he never came back. The marriage was
annulled.
Now Caroline, 40, is living with an understanding husband. The first time he
asked her for a date, she told him to read her book, My Story. He still
turned up for the date. Now they appear regularly together on American talk
shows. They go fishing in freshwater lakes in Georgia. `You get these
incredible sied bass that freak you out.'
Caroline, she told me, is happy now. But sometimes she wishes she'd led a more
private life. I wonder if she wishes that she'd never auditioned as a good-
looking woman in a swimsuit, who had a walk-on part in the life of Roger
Moore.
