ABC News Editor Don 'Dawn' Ennis Comes Out As Transgender
"The 49-year-old father of three said he’s splitting from his wife of 17 years to become a woman, or Dawn Stacey Ennis, as she is now known on her governmental records," reports the New York Post.
A ten-year veteran of ABC, Ennis' co-workers reportedly took the news well, leaving flowers on her desk and celebrating with a cake. ABC News President Ben Sherwood even wrote her a note of support.
Ennis, who is currently shopping a book deal, took to her Facebook page [it is now private, but DailyMail has screen grabs] to explain her story.
“Today I begin anew," she begins. "Please understand: This is not a game of dress-up, or make-believe. It is my affirmation of who I now am and what I must do to be happy, in response to a soul-crushing secret that my wife and I have been dealing with for more than seven years, mostly in secret."
Ennis said she suffers from an “unusual hormonal imbalance,” and blames her mother, who fed her female hormones as a child to prolong a commercial acting career.
“I have a rare medical condition — nothing deadly or infectious — but it has resulted in an unusual hormonal imbalance, ” she explains. “One so profound that I don’t resemble the man you first met 10 years ago.”
Ennis has not yet undergone a sex change operation, but says her marriage is “wrecked.”
“Despite the heartbreak, [my wife] has encouraged me to start this new life that we both believe better fits who I now am,” Ennis continued. "Trust me, this is NOT the midlife crisis I was counting on — I’d much prefer to have bought a sports car. Even an affair, I think, would have been something we might have recovered from."
“I’m sure if you had to pick someone we know in common who might be transitioning from male to female, I’m guessing I would not even crack the top ten,” she added.
While Dawn just came out to her co-workers, she has long been an active commenter on her YouTube account and often "likes" videos by fellow transgender people also going through transition.