Heartstopper's Bel Priestley: 'I want to be a role model for other trans people'

Bel shares her experience of transitioning online and has gained 1.3 million followers on TikTok

Bel Priestley had no idea what it meant to be transgender while growing up in a small town near Milton Keynes.

Bel was born a boy but realised at the age of 13 that she wanted to transition.

She started sharing her experiences online and has since gained 1.3 million followers on TikTok.

The 20-year-old's social media presence led to a starring role as Naomi in the Netflix series Heartstopper, which has been praised for its diverse cast and storylines.

Here, in her own words, she talks about how she overcame bullying at school to become a role model for children like her.

'I have been bullied my whole life'

When I was growing up as a boy in Leighton Buzzard, I was very feminine but being trans was not really a thing. I didn't know it was possible.

I have been bullied my whole life. I moved school at age six after punching one of my bullies in the nose, but I was bullied at my new school too.

I was an only child and my dad is quite a masculine guy. He wanted me to play sport so I tried to please him and I played football, cricket and did karate, but I really wanted to act and perform.

Bel came out as gay at the age of 12 and later started doing make-up tutorials

At the age of 12 I came out as gay. I was going through a lot of emotions and I was so anxious I wouldn't eat, I would get panic attacks multiple times a day.

I ended up in hospital with an eating disorder. It wasn't to do with body image, but I felt like I had no control over anything in my life and eating was the only thing I could control.

At the same time my parents were going through a divorce and it was a really difficult time in my life. I kept a lot of things to myself because they worried about me so much.

I had a secret make-up room my mum let me use, but my dad didn't know about it. At my prom in year eight I wore make-up, but I had to hide my face on the way out so he wouldn't see.

At the age of 13 I found out what trans was on Instagram and everything suddenly made sense. I came out as trans the next day. My parents initially thought it could be a phase but I just knew. I decided to change my name and start wearing a skirt to school.

When I was just a gay boy playing around with make-up, people let me do my own thing. It was when I turned trans that the bullying got more serious.

After that it was a fight to survive and I felt like my childhood ended. I would walk round the corridors too scared to go to lessons and I had to sit by myself at lunch in an isolation room.

I was the first person at my school to transition. Some teachers were really nice to me and helped me, but others were horrible. I wanted to use the girls' toilets, but one teacher banned me and she insisted on using my birth name.

'I couldn't find anyone similar to me online'

Bel could not find any role models online when she first started transitioning

At home, things got a lot better with my dad and we grew much closer. He wanted me to feel comfortable in my own skin. I'm really lucky with my family and they have all accepted me as Bel.

But I still felt alone a lot of the time. When I first came out as trans, I looked online to see if there were any other people like me but I couldn't really find anyone similar.

I started doing make-up tutorials on YouTube, which made me even more of a target for bullies at my school, but it allowed me to make friends with people online with the same interests as me. I was one of the first trans girls in the UK to start sharing my story on social media.

Everything changed for me during the coronavirus lockdown. I was working as a cleaner at my old school, but I decided to quit that and focus more on my social media and I gradually built up a following on TikTok.

I started taking hormones around the same time and I was documenting my journey. People became really invested in my story and I grew 400,000 followers in a month.

'I want to play roles that get people talking'

Bel says filming Heartstopper was one of the best experiences of her life

Filming Heartstopper was one of the best experiences of my life. I feel so beyond lucky. I would like to have surgery one day to complete my transition, but I'm not in a rush. It is a huge operation and I am lucky in that I don't feel incredibly dysphoric - I can accept and live with my body as it is for now. For a lot of people, the surgery is the starting point for their life, but mine is already going well and I am so grateful for that.

I have a really nice friendship group at home now. I can relax and be myself, I don't have to talk about work. It's a breath of fresh air.

I never sit back and take in what has happened. I'm always striving for the next goal and I want to be the best and the biggest. I have always been very driven and I think it has a lot to do with wanting to prove people wrong.

My dream acting role would be a Disney princess - I know that would rock up the world. I would love to play a Bond girl or a superhero and I would love to do more modelling. I want to play roles that get people talking and shake up the industry a bit.

Bel hopes to play a Disney princess one day and wants to shake up the acting industry

Walking into a room as a trans person, I've had to do 10 more steps to get into that room to be seen as a woman.

I want to be someone for the younger generation to look up to and hopefully inspire. I hate the thought of anyone feeling so alone like I did when I was growing up.

It is lovely when I get comments saying I have helped people come out to their family. I know role models can make such a big difference to people and I just want to be the best role model I can. I want to be the person that I never had growing up.

As told to Charlie Jones