Richard Branson's daughter Holly identified as a boy

5 July 2021

Richard Branson's daughter Holly identified as a boy for seven years.

Richard and Holly Branson

Holly, 39, believed she "was a boy" when she was four years old after her younger brother, Sam, was born but later decided to be a girl when she turned 11.

She explained: "I, at the age of four, decided I was a boy. It was just after my brother was born and I don’t know whether looking back on it now it was some sort of psychological thing that a boy was born and was getting lots of attention and I wanted to be like him. It wasn’t that I wanted to be a boy, it was that I was a boy. I absolutely believed I was a boy – I stood up to pee, I dressed like a boy, I even gave myself different male names.

"This wasn’t just a quick thing that stopped after a few months or years, it lasted until I was nearly 11. It was quite unusual, especially at that time [because] it was nearly 40 years ago."

The former junior doctor said she was "lucky" to have parents that let her be who she wanted and gave her "unconditional love".

Speaking on the 'In The Pink' podcast, she added: "They didn’t question any of it, they let me be who I wanted to be."

However, she decided to embrace being a girl again when she asked her mother for a dress for Christmas when she was 11.

Holly continued: "When I was 11, I asked my mum for a dress for Christmas.

“She thought, ‘I’m not going to give Holly a dress from me as it feels too pressurised’, so she got one of our family friends to get me a dress and they did and that was the turning point. From then on, I was back to being female Holly.”