Ruby Rose Explains Why She Chose Not to Transition

The latest season of Orange Is the New Black brought newcomer Ruby Rose, an Australian actress and the Internet’s latest “girl crush.” Though Rose describes herself as gender fluid and chooses to use female pronouns, she had considered transitioning when she was younger. She even started saving for gender reassignment surgery at the age of five.

In an interview with Access Hollywood, the 29-year-old describes a jar that she’d fill with money towards surgery. “I had this jar that I would collect dollars, in fact we were so poor, it would have been cents, so I probably had nineteen cents to go to this surgery that I really didn’t know a lot about,” she said. “I think I’d seen a daytime documentary or something on Oprah and I was like, ‘That’s what I’m going to do.’ And so I started saving from probably the age of five.”

Rose came out at age 12, and embraced her identity as a teenager. “When I got to 15, I kind of decided to get more into my body and I shaved my head and my mom was just like, ‘I don’t know what’s going on right now, but if you are happy, then do it,’” she explains. “I started to change the way that I dressed and talked, and realized that I didn’t want to transition, I just wanted to be more comfortable in my own skin.”

When asked about Caitlyn Jenner, Rose said, “I just really feel so blessed to be alive and even part of this huge movement. Caitlyn, call me! I mean, I’m busy but I want to hang out! You’re awesome!”

Rose also revealed herself to be “very obsessed with Taylor Swift” and wants to be her best friend. We can probably expect Rose to be joining the Swift Girl Gang sometime soon.