Hunter Schafer Reveals She Had Gender-Affirming Bottom Surgery and Discusses Her Evolving Identity

“Euphoria” star Hunter Schafer has revealed that she underwent gender-affirming bottom surgery, a procedure that aligns a person’s genitals with their gender identity. “I just had bottom surgery in December, which was amazing, and I love it so much,” Schafer told Elle magazine. From a Gender-Expansive Outlook to a Clearer Sense of Self Schafer said she had long embraced the gender-expansive side of herself and wanted to make her previous body work, partly because she found something “cool and badass” in that approach. According to Elle, she described repeatedly hitting a wall where the idea of a queer utopia didn’t match the world she encountered every day, or the way she personally wanted to move through it. Every trans person’s path is different, but a medical transition turned out to be the right choice for her. She called the ability to evolve the “magical thing about queerness,” explaining that on an ideological level it is about possibility, expansion and growth. Though she once saw her gender identity as more fluid, she now describes herself as having landed somewhere “flatter.” “I’m a woman. I’m a girl,” she said. Reaching that conclusion meant working through the gap between queerness as a philosophy and how it plays out in real life, a tension she says is always present. Recovery Schafer said she spent her recovery in early 2026 in a large rented apartment, with friends and family visiting while she had to stay lying flat. Her doctor’s orders capped her at about 150 steps a day, which she noted is next to nothing. What’s Next for Her Career Schafer will next appear opposite Michelle Yeoh in the Amazon miniseries “Blade Runner 2099.” Her Earlier Comments on Identity and Her Work A couple of years ago, Schafer said she didn’t want her identity to overshadow her work and had tried to avoid using the word “trans” in interviews. She told GQ in 2024 that it hadn’t happened naturally, and that if she let it, every article would carry a “Transsexual Actress” label. She said she had worked hard to get past difficult points in her transition and just wanted to move on. In that interview she acknowledged that being able to shift the focus away from her gender identity is a privilege. She said she had been offered many trans roles and turned them down on purpose. She also said she is aware of being one of the most famous trans people in media and feels some responsibility, and maybe a little guilt, for not being more of a spokesperson. Still, she believes that not making it the centerpiece of her career will take her further, and that going further and doing great work will help “the movement” more than constantly discussing it. Her Career So Far Schafer’s first acting role was Jules in HBO’s hit “Euphoria,” which made her a celebrity and a role model for trans people in her early 20s. Her other credits include “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” and the Neon horror film “Cuckoo.”