Who is Tommy Dorfman's husband Peter Zurkuhlen? '13 Reasons Why' star comes out as transgender
Tommy Dorfman, best known for playing Ryan Shaver in Netflix’s ‘13 Reasons Why’, has now come out as a transgender woman. The 29-year-old made the revelation in an interview given to TIME magazine. According to reports, around four years ago, in 2017, Dorfman announced herself as non-binary. At the time, she began using they/them pronouns.
However, now the actress has taken another step in what she called her “evolution” and identified herself as a transgender woman. “For a year now, I have been privately identifying and living as a woman—a trans woman,” Dorfman told TIME. She continued, “It's funny to think about coming out, because I haven't gone anywhere. I view today as a reintroduction to me as a woman, having made a transition medically. Coming out is always viewed as this grand reveal, but I was never not out. Today is about clarity: I am a trans woman. My pronouns are she/her. My name is Tommy.”
READ MORE
White influencer Oli London slammed for identifying as ‘non-binary Korean’
Dorfman also disclosed why she kept her name as it is. She told trans novelist Torrey Peters, “I'm named after my mom's brother who passed a month after I was born, and I feel very connected to that name, to an uncle who held me as he was dying. This is an evolution of Tommy. I’m becoming more Tommy.”
Dorfman then went on to explain why she decided to come out. She stated: “I've been living in this other version of coming out where I don't feel safe enough to talk about it, so I just do it. But I recognize that transitioning is beautiful. Why not let the world see what that looks like? So I kept, on Instagram, a diaristic time capsule instead - one that shows a body living in a more fluid space. However, I've learned as a public-facing person that my refusal to clarify can strip me of the freedom to control my own narrative. With this medical transition, there has been discourse about my body, and it began to feel overwhelming.”
In the interview, she also spoke about what romance and partnership now mean to her. She is married to Peter Zurkuhlen. Dorfman said, “It’s wild to be 29 and going through puberty again. Some days I feel like I’m 14. As a result of that shift, the types of romantic partnerships I seek out are different. I was in a nine-year relationship in which I was thought of as a more male-bodied person, with a gay man. I love him so much, but we’ve been learning that as a trans woman, what I’m interested in is not necessarily reflected in a gay man. So we’ve had incredible conversations to redefine our relationship as friends. Transitioning has been liberating and clarifying.”
Who is Peter Zurkuhlen?
Zurkuhlen is Dorfman’s husband. The pair have been married since 2016 after dating each other for years. According to Zurkuhlen’s LinkedIn profile, he is currently working as Get Help's Chief of Staff. He is also the Founder & CEO of ChipChop Holdings, Inc. (aka ChipChop Systems), a developer and licensor of patented technology solutions for retail and restaurant order fulfillment.
It states that the 33-year-old earlier used to work as “a licensed real estate salesperson at Bold New York,” and adds, “In his spare time, Peter is an avid tennis player, soccer player, skier, and enjoys volunteering and supporting causes around LGBTQ+ empowerment, homelessness, and mental health. Peter volunteered as a counselor on The Trevor Project's crisis and suicide hotline and has worked with and supported organizations including The Ali Forney Center, GLAAD, and HRC. Peter graduated with a BA from Centre College in 2010 and was a member of the varsity tennis team.”