Rihanna look costs transgender $38000

A 19-YEAR-OLD male-to-female transgender patient will get NHS treatment worth £25,000 – to transform her into pop superstar Rihanna.

Student Shaqua Lee was born a boy in London but has been living as a female full-time for the last three years after confessing to her family that she wanted to become a woman.

When she was 16, Shaqua’s GP diagnosed her with gender identity disorder, allowing her to legally class herself as female and begin the costly transformation for free on the NHS.

Starting hormone treatment in the next couple of months, the teen says she has been waiting for this moment since she was a child and credits her idol Rihanna with giving her the confidence to be open about her gender confusion.

Shaqua is so in awe of the Diamonds singer that she admits styling every aspect of her female self on Rihanna — from clothes and wigs to her sexy personality.

And she even hopes to work as a lookalike when her transformation is complete. Shaqua, born Shar, says: “Rihanna is what I call my gender inspiration.

“She is just a fantastic idol for me as she is feminine, sexy and hugely successful. When you’re transgender, it’s hard to imagine what you will look like as a woman. So having Rihanna to emulate gave me the confidence to pursue my transformation and imagine what I could look like.

“I’d love to work as a lookalike for her as it would make me feel accepted as a female and would confirm that my transition from male to female was complete.”

Shaqua, from Watford, Herts, is awaiting her first course of hormone treatment to stop manly hair growth and make her body more feminine. She is also on the waiting list for free breast augmentation surgery and vaginal construction. Costing the NHS £25,000 ($38,000), the teenager insists she is entitled to the taxpayer-funded procedures, which will also include counselling.

She says: “Even without the surgery I’m considered a woman but I need it to complete myself.
“It’s only fair to have the surgery on the NHS because living in a male body is horrific and I can’t afford to have it done privately.

“I’m young and the earlier I have the surgery the longer I can live as the woman I know I am inside.
“Like Rihanna, I won’t take no for an answer.”

Currently living with her grandmother, Shaqua’s relationship with the rest of her family is strained following her revelation.

She says: “When I was diagnosed, it was such a relief. I decided to start living as a female straight away and rushed out to buy bras that I now wear stuffed with padding.
“I shave daily and wear extra-tight knickers to hide my male genitalia. I’ve spent more than £5,000 ($7,600) on new female clothes and wigs, all of which I’ve styled on Rihanna. Dressing as her has made me more confident about the sex change because I know exactly what and who I will look like once it is complete.

“Rihanna is gorgeous and amazing so why wouldn’t I style myself on her?”

Shaqua — who is studying media at college and working part-time as a shop assistant — keeps a close eye on Rihanna’s styling to help her channel the Bajan beauty accurately.

She says: “I study her looks religiously. Whenever she changes her hair I rush out to buy another wig.
“I have all her famous ‘looks’, including her red hair phase and her new, shorter pixie haircut.

“I also do singing and dancing lessons so I can mirror my idol completely and this could help me with lookalike work in the future. I’d love to meet her to say thank you and discuss fashion tips, get her view on me modelling and wanting a sex change to be like her.”

Single Shaqua has recently come out of a long-term relationship with a man and says being accepted as a woman helped her confidence. She says: “He accepted I was a woman in a man’s body even though he knew from the start that I was born a boy. Sadly it ended because he thought I was cheating, which I wasn’t.”

Although Shaqua has a group of friends who all support her transformation, she admits not everyone understands. She reveals: “People I’m not friends with have screamed at me and told me I’m a disgrace to my race. I’ve had drinks thrown over me and people have threatened to kill me."