Meet Maya Massafera, the Brazilian influencer who came out as trans
Get to know Maya Massafera!
For over 40 years, Maya Massafera built up a career in fashion, television, and social media. Between working with supermodels like Gisele Bündchen and Alessandra Ambrósio, being a judge on the Brazilian edition of America's Next Top Model, hosting MTV Brasil's Ex on the Beach, and creating content for various social media platforms, Massafera accumulated 8.12 million subscribers on YouTube, 5.5 million followers on Instagram, and 3.7 million followers on TikTok. For nearly all of her life, however, she presented as a gay man.
Earlier in 2024, Massafera disappeared from social media seemingly out of nowhere… and it wasn't until May 2 that she shared an Instagram post announcing her new name (Maya) and showing her ID with an updated gender marker (female).
On May 31, 2024, Massafera was announced as the cover star of Vogue Brasil's digital Pride issue, which included a personal essay about her transition. The social media influencer wrote:
"There's the saying that 'life begins at 40.' Mine literally started at 43. For the first time, I understand what it means to be happy. My state of mind is happy. (…) I now have the desire to look myself in the mirror, to leave my house, and to live life. At the same time, I'm [experiencing] fear and dysphoria, because leaving my house has become an event. People want to see if I'm 'really feminine,' what else has changed in me, and what my body looks like."
She added, "I spent 40 years in the worst prison you can imagine. I spent 24 hours a day living inside a body and gender that weren't mine. I was born with a female soul, [but] I was a woman trapped in a male body. I had my happy moments, but I was not a happy person. Even more so because I didn't understand myself as a trans woman."
Massafera also wrote in the Vogue Brasil essay about how her transition had actually started a few years ago, "even without my understanding."
"For a few years, I wasn't able to wear clothes that were determined by society as masculine," she explained. "When I realized that I was a trans woman and started my transition, I felt certain that I wanted to do everything away from the media [to] strengthen my mental health. I told my family and my best friends, and my mother was my greatest partner. I started hormones in October 2023, and, for three months, I could not get out of bed, as I became very weak. It was a very difficult but liberating time. I had planned to stay away even longer, but news outlets found out and started to report distorted stories."
Instagram (@mayamassafera)
(L-R) Maya Massafera and Alessandra Ambrósio
Massafera concluded this essay for Vogue Brasil with the following:
"I want to make it clear how happy I am and how much I found myself [as a trans woman]. I don't know why God made me like this, but it was supposed to be that way, and I feel like the happiest person in the world today. I'm a trans woman with great pride. I don't have any certainties about the future, but I want to continue in the entertainment industry and be a good influence for those who have followed my journey. I want to make a difference in the world and spread all the joy and gratitude that is in my chest."
Massafera then sent a special thank-you to her mother, her two brothers, and her close friends — which included Alessandra Ambrósio.
Similarly to when Caitlin Jenner starred on the cover of Vanity Fair many years ago (after announcing her transition), Vogue Brasil has also received a certain amount of backlash for featuring a celebrity who has just transitioned, like Massafera, as the cover star of a digital Pride issue.
Those critics note that the general concept of Pride Month relates to feeling proud of who you are after overcoming so many obstacles and hardships. For instance, most trans women don't have immediate access to doctors to fully transition in a span of a few months. Critics of Massafera's say she hasn't lived long enough as a trans woman to experience the prejudices that so many other trans women have had to deal with.
Another noteworthy layer to this story relates to a miscommunication between the publication and the influencer, who was apparently under the impression that she'd be on the print issue of Vogue Brasil rather than on a digital cover. Nonetheless, that misunderstanding was quickly resolved.
But beyond those criticisms related to the Vogue Brasil cover, it seems like the LGBTQ+ community in Brazil has embraced and is celebrating Massafera transitioning in her 40s, which can be seen as a very inspiring thing — particularly in a community that is still contending with the concept of aging (as evidenced by jokes about how old someone is or how long a couple has been together "in gay years").
We always love to see people living as their most authentic selves, and couldn't be happier for Maya Massafera to be living in her truth!
