'It was the biggest act of love': Woman opens up about how her partner had double mastectomy in bid to become male and legally marry her

July 18, 2014  22:42

A former guest on Oprah has opened up about the extreme lengths her partner went to in order for them to be able to get married.

Christine Tringali Nunes, 44, was married to her husband Joe for seven years before they both came out as gay in a 2006 episode of Oprah, The Daily Mail recalls.

Eight years later, on Sunday night's episode of Oprah: Where Are They Now? the mother-of-two revealed that she is now the wife of the 'love of her life' Jacki, who made quite the sacrifice to be able to marry her.

Jacki explains that she first spotted Christine, a yoga instructor in Sacramento, California, when she appeared on Oprah, and was immediately smitten.

'When the camera panned over to her, my initial response was, "Oh, my God. That woman's beautiful," recalls Jacki, who works for UPS. 'I would have never thought she was a lesbian if I saw her walking the streets.'

After they got to know each other, Christine and Jacki fell in love, and Christine asked her partner to marry her.

At the time, however, same-sex marriage was illegal in their home state of California.

That's when they discovered a loophole in the law. 'I started looking into transgender,' says Jacki.

'In the eyes of the courts, if I were to have my gender changed to male, just like that  - she gets my social security, she gets my pension.'

So in early 2013, Jacki elected to have a double mastectomy. In April of that year, she officially changed her sex to 'male' on her birth certificate.

'I was so overwhelmed that somebody would do such a thing,' said Christine, who has two teenage sons with her ex-husband. 'It was the biggest act of love anyone has ever done for me.'

Now happily married, Christine and Jacki live together in Sacramento. And while she no longer has a close relationship with Joe, she says she 'would do anything' for him, and they both share 'two wonderful boys'.

'Sexuality is a long and complex topic,' she adds with a smile.

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