A young reality TV star has gone on the record and shared some of her regrets. Meanwhile, her mom was blasted for discussing the “dilation” of her private parts.
At the age of four years old, Jazz Jennings, who was born a biological male, was diagnosed with “gender dysphoria.” According to Jazz’s parents, their child was exhibiting behavior indicating that they identified more with females than males. Jazz’s parents, Greg and Jeanette Jennings, decided to start Jazz on hormonal blockers at the age of five, which means Jazz had not hit puberty.
That became an issue when the parents decided to allow Jazz to fully transition to become a female at 17 years old. For a male to become a female surgically, the surgeon must have enough penile tissue to work with to construct a vagina. Since Jazz had hormone blockers at such a young age, that wasn’t possible.
According to Women’s Health, because Jazz didn’t develop fully as a male, there wasn’t enough tissue in the genital area to construct a vagina. Instead, she likely underwent an “experimental” procedure that involved taking out her peritoneal lining (a thin membrane that lines the abdominal cavity) to build the vaginal canal — something she discussed on YouTube before her surgery.
Jazz experienced big problems after the first surgery to construct a vagina. The reality TV star subsequently had to undergo three corrective surgeries and had issues with keeping the vaginal opening from closing up. This caused Jeanette Jennings to become extremely upset with Jazz. “I’m worried about her mental well-being and her dilation,” Jeanette said. “We have a dilation problem. I’ve woken Jazz out of a dead sleep and taken the dilator put the lubrication on it and said: ‘Here! You take this and put it into your vagina or I will!’ I will be so mad if… that thing [vagina] seals up.”
“I have woken Jazz out of a dead sleep and taken the dilator and put the lubrication on it and said: ‘Here! You take this, and you put it in your vagina. If not, I will.’ I will be so mad if […] that thing seals up.”
– Jeanette Jenningspic.twitter.com/Qhyw9fzIgF— Donovan Cleckley (@DonovanCleckley) January 15, 2021
Many viewers blasted Jeanette Jennings after the clip of her remarks resurfaced on social media. “The mom is very controlling, she convinced the father and the grandparents to go along with it!” wrote one critic about Jeanette’s influence over family members. “That woman is very sick. No child should be put through that,” said another. “My 5-year-old periodically says she is a unicorn. Should I go through procedures to alter her life so she feels like she really is a unicorn? Unbelievable!” blasted one social media user.
“I accidentally briefly stopped on the show a few years ago,” wrote one viewer. “I caught Jazz saying that [her] antidepressant prescription needed to be refilled. I thought [her] transition was supposed to stop their depression. Maybe they ‘fixed’ the wrong problem.” Another wrote, “Mom, did the whole thing imagine letting a five-year-old decide what she wants to be. It’s called child abuse and that girl is sad. I’ve watched that show a couple of times. I really feel sorry for her.”
Jazz confessed feelings of dissatisfaction to her mother Jeanette after fully transitioning. “I really want to understand myself and be able to read my own soul… I just want to feel like myself. All I want is to be happy and feel like me and I don’t feel like me ever!” Jazz cried in an emotional outburst caught on camera.
Jazz also had extreme weight gain and took to Instagram to post a side-by-side photo of herself and open up about her binge-eating disorder, which caused her to “gain almost 100 pounds,” Entertainment Tonight reported. The TLC star revealed that she missed the first semester at college because she was so mentally unwell.
“As many of you have noticed, over the past few years, I have gained a substantial amount of weight. I suffer from binge-eating disorder, a disease in which I’m not only addicted to food, but I eat it in large quantities,” Jazz said, explaining the weight gain and her eating disorder. “My binging, along with an increased appetite I experience from some of the meds I’m on, has caused me to gain almost 100 pounds in a little less than two years.”
PJ Media summed up Jazz’s life as a reality TV star after transitioning from male to female. “Jazz has since suffered from mental illness, rapid weight gain, pain, constant reflux, a lack of sex drive, an inability to orgasm, and anxiety,” they reported. “And not unlike the Truman Show, it all happened in front of the cameras for a global audience. Were Jazz to want to escape from this reality, there is nowhere [they] could go where [Jazz] could begin again in private, away from prying eyes.”
