London - A high-flying lawyer has been given her son’s blessing to transition from male to female – after already changing sex twice.
Samantha Kane had previously become a woman, only to reverse the procedure when she became estranged from her two children.
She has now had breast implants fitted and says she finally feels like her "true self" thanks to the support of her son.
"I saw him shortly before his wedding, and he told me he was getting married, and invited me. That was really nice," she added. "He said, “I don’t mind who you are. I love you whether you are male or female. If it makes you be happier to be a female, then so be it”."
The 58-year-old barrister was born Sam Hashimi in Iraq, before moving to Britain in the seventies then having gender reassignment surgery in 1997. But she decided to transition back to male following the break-down of her relationship with her children.
She became a man again – called Charles – in 2004. "I couldn’t see my children for around ten years," she said. "I started missing them so much. My children grew up not really knowing me.
"Eventually, I thought, maybe I could get back what I love if I become a man again. That’s really the reason [I did it]." But within a year of living as Charles she felt she’d made a mistake.
"In the first year, I had regrets – what they claimed the operation would achieve, they never achieved anyway," she said.
"Turning a man who was born a man into a woman, and then approximating back to what it was like being a male will never work – that was really part of it." She began dressing as a woman again in March last year, and says she is now much happier.
She said that her son "encouraged me to change back, basically. He’s very supportive."
Miss Kane – whose marriage to a woman broke down in the early nineties – added that she knew she was in the "wrong body" from the age of five or six. She felt "uncomfortable" as Charles, and "wasn’t 100 per cent accepted". But she said: "I went through all this trouble to be Charles, and one had to make the best out of it.
"I’m a lawyer, and thought people wouldn’t understand me changing back.
"At the Bar, people have to adopt more traditional roles. Chopping and changing is frowned on."
She has now spent more than £150 000 on reassignment surgery. Following a brief engagement to a woman while living as Charles, she is now receiving romantic offers as Samantha. "I want to enjoy being single for a while, and not to rush," she said. "Rushing into relationships is quite difficult.
"But one should always be open to love. I could love a man, I could love a woman, as long as there feels like there’s a connection – that’s what I’m looking for."