Liev Schreiber On His Trans-Identifying Son: ‘It’s Important That She Goes, I Am Trans, Look at Me’

“Ray Donovan” star Liev Schreiber said it’s not that big of a deal that his son identifies as a woman, then proceeds to say it’s “important” to talk about it.

“Kai was always who Kai is,” the actor told Variety of his 16-year-old son. “But I suppose the most profound moment was her asking us to change her pronouns. To be honest with you, it didn’t feel like that big of a deal to me only because Kai had been so feminine for so long.”

“Kai is such a fighter,” he added later. “It’s important that she goes, ‘Hey, I am trans,’ and, ‘Look at me.’”

The outlet noted that Kai, along with Schreiber and his wife, Taylor, will attend an upcoming charity gala to raise money for homeless LGBT youth.

“This isn’t just about representing the trans community,” Schreiber said. “This is actually a community of people who don’t have great resources, who don’t have access to help, who aren’t being protected and looked after by their families. These are people who are being rejected. These are people who are experiencing the harshest version of humanity that we can offer, and some of them are not surviving it.”

When the Variety interviewer asked if the nine-time Emmy Award nominee had any advice for parents of “trans kids,” Schrieber replied, “I don’t know the answer for your kid. I don’t know what it’s like for you to be a trans dad. I don’t know how you were brought up. I don’t know what religion you encountered or what your spirituality is. And for me to tell you what I think about my kid feels like an overstep.”

He added, “I guess if I would say anything to someone who’s having trouble with their trans teen or their adolescent trans kid, it’s ‘Teenagers are a headache. They’re hard.’ It doesn’t matter whether they’re trans or not because you’ll come out of this. But a trans teen is going to be a teen. They’re such a pain so much of the time, and Kai is as feisty and outspoken as they come.”

When asked how he feels about President Donald Trump rolling back left-wing gender policies via executive orders, the actor said he doesn’t “dwell on it too much.”

Many reactions on social media focused on how many trans-identifying children happen to have famous parents.