Laith Ashley

Laith Ashley is an American-born model, singer-songwriter, and activist. He studied Psychology at Fairfield University in Connecticut. 

He is famous as a transgender model. Laith was born Laith Ashley De La Cruz. 

Before becoming a model and an actor, he worked as a counselor for homeless youth in New York. 

Asley is the first transgender man to be featured in Diesel Campaign.

Early life and transition journey

Ashley was born and raised in Harlem, New York, to his Roman Catholic father and Pentecostal Christian mother. He was assigned female at birth. 

Ashley knew there was something different in him when he was four or five, but he kept his feeling aside and focused on excelling in his academics to impress his parents and make them proud of him. 

He also played all sports and was an athlete all his life. As he grew older, he was sick of hiding who he was. 

He was getting ready to graduate from high school and go college, but he was still trying to figure out his gender identity and sexuality because he wasn’t sure what had been happening for a very long time. 

His aunt outed him as gay when he was 17 after she found out that he was dating a girl whom he met online. 

His parents weren’t happy at the time as his father wanted to preserve the image of the perfect family, and his mom was more concerned thinking about his afterlife. 

He left them to learn eventually by themselves through observation.

According to him, being assigned female at birth, he thought he was lesbian. 

Still, he hated the word and usually used the word gay because back then, he didn’t know what transgender was until he came across the YouTube video of guys documenting their transition video and after which he realized who he was. 

He was 19 at the time. Ashley didn’t come as transgender until he was 23 because he hadn’t had the guts. He wanted to be what his parents wanted him to be. 

After he graduated from college, he started working at Callen-Lorde community health center, an LGBT health center. 

While working there, he started seeing patients coming in, living their truths which built his confidence to undergo his medical check transition. 

When he first told his mom a year earlier that he was going for a medical transition to which, she didn’t believe it but was shocked when he started doing it. 

On the 22nd of January 2014, he had his first hormone therapy. Nine months later, he took testosterone and had a double mastectomy.

How did his modeling career begin?

The first time Ashley did modeling work was after one of his close trans friends suggested he get to the casting of Barneys trans campaign, to which Ashley agreed and got selected. 

It was before his medical transition, but he had already come out as trans.

Soon after, a photographer friend of his organized a photo shoot that went viral on his Instagram after he posted it on his Instagram. 

When he woke up, he got a ton of messages, mostly negative and transphobic, that took an emotional toll on him. 

He felt exposed. He felt like he was a liar and just wanted to disappear. 

He was on the verge of deleting his Instagram account, but it was actress Laverne Cox who gave him the courage by reposting his image on her Instagram two weeks later. 

He then started getting love and support, and positivity from people within the community. 

A year and a half later, he appeared in Calvin Klein Briefs, which was his major break. 

He then became the first-ever transgender man to be featured in a Diesel campaign shot by David LaChapelle.

He has since been featured on the cover of top magazines, including GQ, Vogue France, Elle Uk, Attitude UK, etc. 

He was contacted by NBC and started shooting the reality series Strut, a series about transgender models, in 2016.

He played Taylor Swift’s love interest for her song

Taylor Swift recently released a new music video, “Lavender Haze,” from her album “Midnights,” where her love interest is played by Ashley. 

Ashley took his Instagram to express his gratitude. Thank you for allowing me to play a small part in your story, he wrote on his Instagram. 

He described Taylor to be brilliant and continues to leave him in awe, inspired, and hopeful by her storytelling abilities and his experience working with her to be magical. 

He also thanked her for being an ally saying representation matters.

Does he have a wife?

He is yet to get married. 

During the conversation with YouTube creator Amber Whittington mainly known as Amber’s Closet, Ashley revealed he has fallen in love with two and a half women so far. 

At the time of the relationship, he thought he was sure they were the one. 

And then there was one with whom he felt like it was puppy love, and when they grew older, they friend-zoned each other. 

He also revealed that when he dated, he was like don’t touch me sort of stud, and when his ex-girlfriend touched him for the first time, he wanted to throw up.

Net Worth 

His net worth as of now is estimated to be around $1 million, which is sure to skyrocket in the coming days. 

Age 

1. He was born in 1989 in Harlem, New York, United States. He is currently 34 years old.

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