Lindsey Walker used to be a 7ft tall basketball player called Greg.
Until she reached 21, Walker had muscles, dated a string of pretty girls and got a "manly" tattoo.
With his good looks, regular weight lifting sessions, and size 17 feet, no one would have guessed that Walker secretly longed to come out as the woman she felt she should be.
Walker, 26 from Ohio, USA, told Huffington Post UK of the moment she knew she'd finally had enough pretending to be a macho man, and how it feels to be one of the world's tallest transsexuals.
"I just snapped," she said. "I was playing basketball, it was my third season at college, I was really depressed and angry all the time and I ended up quitting the team halfway through the season.
"I didn't call or talk to anyone and I didn't come out right away. I went to talk to a therapist: I just didn't know if I could be 7ft tall and transition into being a woman.
"That was probably the worst part of my life, I felt like I hit rock bottom. There were weeks when I was drunk every day for a while just to get through."
However after Walker decided to come out, she contacted Guinness World Records to ask if she could be the tallest transsexual.
She told Huffington Post UK: "I don't think it's a negative label. When I was 17 or 18 I was a tall transsexual looking to come out and I wanted to see if there was an option for me. I thought by doing this I would help other people."
However Walker was disappointed by the response she received.
"Guinness World Records emailed me back saying that they wouldn't support me, I forget how they worded it, but they said they don't recognise it as a record or something.
"They worded it real fine so I wouldn't get offended but I kind of was. It's the start of a transsexual life transitioning and there's a group of people out there going through this. People just don't want anything to do with it: I know people like that who just won't recognise it, I get that everyday."
Being 7ft tall, Walker could cut quite an imposing figure. She explained how difficult it was to find clothes and especially shoes that would fit.
"It was difficult as a boy to find clothes and now its 10 times harder. Shoes are bad: theres a couple of fetish stores that have something that size but otherwise I have to get them custom made.
"They'll do it in Thailand but they're really expensive: they are like $400 (£250)."
However she explained how being tall does have some advantages:
"People occasionally shout stuff at me in the street but they do it at a distance, I mean I don't blame them, I wouldn't want to say anything to my face.
"I do get emails that saying that I should kill myself or that I should die. No one's confronted me face to face or verbally, and no one has physically assaulted me."
Walker told Huffington Post UK how not all emails were negative:
"As far as dating goes, I get a lot of emails, but they mainly just want to have sex with you. I mean everyone has a fetish to sleep with a transsexual, its not just men, women have the same fetish they just dont talk about it as much.
"I have propositions from both men and women, although they are mainly men. I'm not really tempted: I've tried to date, but I'm at the point where I'm in a city I don't really want to be in so I've kinda put dating on hold for now."
However Walker doesn't regret coming out.
She told Huffington Post UK: "To anybody else who is struggling, I would say be yourself. Why cover yourself up? You only have one life."