Bodybuilder Janae Marie Kroc Comes Out As Trans Via Instagram

Written by Terri Washington on July 30, 2015

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In a touching message through Instagram, world record holding power lifter Matt Kroczaleski has emerged as Janae Marie Kroc. In the first post to the @mattkroc account in 16 weeks, Kroc announced she was transgender to her 4,000-plus Instagram followers with a picture on Tuesday.

There has obviously been a great deal of gossip, rumors and questions about me the past few days. To put them to rest: yes, I am transgender/gender fluid. First, I would like to be clear that I had planned to wait until my sons were out of high school before I became openly public about this. As that no longer is an option, I will address it now. I have been very open about this for many years among my family, close friends, and in the powerlifting community, but I realize for many of you this has been a huge shock. This is something that I have been dealing with my entire life and has been extremely difficult for me. In fact, it even drove me to consider suicide at one point. I never wanted nor asked for this, and fought this as hard as I could for a very long time. I have finally reached a point where I am comfortable with and proud of whom I am, even if a lot of people don’t understand. I have received an unimaginable amount of support and love in the last twenty four hours from family, friends, fans, and strangers alike and I want to thank every single one of you that have reached out to me. It honestly means more to me that I can possibly express with the written word. I will share my story in more detail in the coming weeks. In the mean time you can follow me on Instagram @janaemariekroc and my Facebook page can be found under my friends list on facebook under Janae Marie. #truth #m2f #mtf #genderfluid #nonbinary #transgender #beyourself #beyou #powerlifting #bodybuilding #mattkroc #girlslikeus #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtpride

A photo posted by Matthew Kroczaleski (@mattkroc) on Jul 28, 2015 at 4:05am PDT

The post received over 900 likes and 365 mostly supportive comments. After receiving much attention from various outlets, she gave an update through another Instagram post on Wednesday. In the post Kroc says that she has not fully transitioned and is currently living as both genders and will continue to do so until her sons are out of high school. Kroc identifies as both transgender and gender-fluid. Kroc claims to be both an “alpha-male and a girly girl” but identifies more as a female.

Kroc is the second major U.S. athlete to come out as transgender (Caitlyn Jenner was the first) and the first in her sport. Her coming out also reminds us of another trans body-builder, Aydian Dowling, who is competing to become the first-ever transgender fitness model on the cover of Men’s Health magazine.

Kroc’s separate Instagram account, @JaneMarieKroc, was created over a year ago and features mostly selfies of her and her muscular physique. The @JaneMarieKroc account currently has over 3000 followers. Congratulations to Kroc for trailblazing in her sport and being her true self.

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