Stereophonics frontman Kelly Jones revealed today that his daughter, 15, has transitioned to become a boy, and admitted that he initially had to fight his own prejudices as he felt he was losing his child.
Speaking on Fearne Cotton's Happy place podcast, the 45-year-old opened up about the 'grieving process' and explained how he came to terms with daughter Lolita Bootsy telling him she was actually a boy, now called Colby.
The singer-songwriter, who has Colby - and 12-year-old Misty - with his ex-partner Rebecca Walters, admitted he still had a lot of 'prejudices' about trans people from his school days.
Colby, who initially came out as a lesbian before saying he felt like a boy, has remained at an all girls' school.
Speaking on Fearne Cotton's podcast, Kelly said: 'For a while it was becoming more and more intense and I remember getting upset one night and I felt like I sounded like an animal because I couldn't work out what was going on.
'You actually go through a grieving process because you feel like you've lost your daughter and you've gained a son and then you get responsible for the siblings and how they're going to deal with it and the grandparents.'
The Welshman said that after first coming out to him as gay, his daughter soon realised it wasn't just a sexuality issue - it was a gender one as well.
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Kelly - who also has a three-year-old daughter Riley with wife Jakki Healy - said: 'I had found out Bootsy was going through her own sexuality situation and I could tell that was going on for a while and she was asking me questions about this, that and the other.
'Bootsy then worked out it wasn't just a sexuality thing it was a gender thing and it was more and more about transitioning really.
'So now she has gone from Bootsy transitioning into Colby.
'You know if I go to a choir concert at the school and all the girls are there with long hair and look like typical teenage girls and your kid is walking down there with short hair and wearing trousers and jokes that she looks like a bartender.
Colby, who initially came out as a lesbian before saying he felt like a boy, has remained at an all girls' school, with her father admitting he initially struggled with the process
'You know that either takes a lot of bottle and you are rebelling against something, or there is something else going on.'
Kelly said that Bootsy's coming out also inspired the video for Fly Like An Eagle in which a young girl similarly opens up to her own father.
He added: 'She had a lot of anxiety through all this stuff and it felt like every little bomb she gave me and her mum and the family she would get lighter and feel better about herself.
'Now it's got to the point I'm at the school and I'm talking to the school and her name is Colby and now it's a he and in an all girls school. The school have been amazing supporting the whole thing.
'I am at acceptance with it and we are all fully supporting it.
'It's the resistance to everything and your own prejudices and whatever films you've seen, whatever it is or your upbringing or derogatory terminology you've used as a kid, all that comes straight into your head the minute you hear the word trans or transgender.'
He said that at Christmas this year, normally nervous Colby felt so confident he came downstairs and performed a song to around 20 guests.
Kelly added: 'It was almost like you take off one jacket and you feel a lot more confident about who you are yourself.'
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