Long before Laverne Cox became a history-making actress, Emmy-winning producer, and one of the most recognizable trans advocates in entertainment, she was a child trying to make sense of rejection, instability, and survival.
The Orange Is the “New Black” star is now revisiting one of the most painful chapters of her childhood in her upcoming memoir “Transcendent,” which arrives June 9. In a new interview with PEOPLE, Cox revealed that her mother once left her and her twin brother, musician and artist M Lamar, in an orphanage for what she says was a month during their adolescence.
Cox, who grew up in Mobile, Alabama, was raised primarily by her single mother Gloria Cox, who worked multiple jobs while supporting the family. According to the actress, the household environment became increasingly tense as financial struggles and family conflict intensified. Eventually, their mother brought the twins to their father’s house for what became their first and only interaction with him.
That meeting quickly turned traumatic.
After their father allegedly referred to them as “f**king freaks,” the twins were later taken to a police station by his partner before ending up in an orphanage. While Cox said her mother claimed the stay lasted only a week, the actress remembers it very differently.
“I mean, the abandonment,” Cox told PEOPLE. “My mom’s version of things isn’t correct. It’s nice to have a twin brother I can check with and be like, ‘It was a month, right?’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah, it was definitely a month.’ ”
For Cox, revisiting the memory while writing Transcendent reopened emotional wounds she says never fully disappeared. The actress explained that documenting those moments forced her to emotionally relive the experience all over again.
“To actually tell that orphanage story was triggering. It was re-traumatizing,” she said. “I was just back there again.”
Cox has spent years publicly advocating for LGBTQ+ visibility and mental health awareness, often speaking candidly about bullying, isolation, and the pressures she faced growing up as a trans child in the South. In 2014, she became the first openly transgender person nominated for a Primetime Emmy in an acting category, helping shift mainstream conversations around trans representation in Hollywood.
Now, she hopes her honesty about childhood trauma can help others dealing with similar pain feel less isolated.
“I felt abandoned, unlovable and discarded,” Cox shared. “But I think that’s the reason to tell any of these stories — hopefully someone will read them and feel less alone.”
Still, the actress says she wants readers to walk away with more than sadness. “I hope my joy is something that can become infectious and people can partake in,” Cox added.
