
A girl who has been modelling her look on pop star Harry Styles and hopes to have surgery on the NHS to complete her transformation has appeared on This Morning to share her story.
Catrina Best, who now likes to be known by just her surname, hit the headlines last year after she was diagnosed with gender identity disorder and admitted she wanted to replicate Harry's 'perfect boy' look.
The 20-year-old today told presenters Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford she doesn't want to 'be' the One Direction star but is basing her appearance on him because she already bore a resemblance to the heart throb.
She said: 'When I first saw Harry I thought I looked like him, we could be brothers or brother and sister.'
She added that having the appearance of Harry, 18, to aspire to has helped her deal with her gender identity disorder.
'It definitely helps,' she said. 'I have been in touch with other teenagers who want to change from being boy or girl and they've also said it helps them to have role model to base their looks upon.'
Best explained how she is hoping to have sex change surgery on the NHS.
She said: 'I'm waiting to see with the budget cuts if they will still provide that service. If they do, I will have hormone replacement therapy and testosterone injections, then surgery to remove my breasts.
'I'm not sure yet if I'll have bottom surgery, not everyone does as it involves a lot of surgery.'
Best revealed on the ITV show that it was a 'relief' to receive the diagnosis after years of questioning her identity, feeling different and feeling bullied.
She said: 'Even when I was five-years-old I always wanted to play with the boys, I didn't want to dress in girls clothes my mum wanted me to wear, I wanted short hair and to do boy things.
'When I started at a new school as a teenager I had made the decision to have short hair but because of the school uniform, I had to wear skirt. It was terrible. I was the only girl with short hair, everyone else was girly. I was bullied because I was the odd one out and different.'
The law student, who was born in Northern Ireland, said it was easier when she lived in the UK as people were more 'open-minded'. But as her mother is Portuguese, they moved to Portugal when she was a teenager where she tried to make an effort to be more feminine.
'In Portugal they are a more closed minded society,' she said. 'I needed to fit in so I tried to be a girl, I grew my hair, wore dresses and even had a relationship with boy. But it went terribly. I felt bad for him as he couldn't understand what was wrong.'
She said that after getting the diagnosis 'everything fell into place in my life, why I didn't fit in, why my relationship with a boy didn't feel right. It was a huge relief.'
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