The 42-year-old star - who was born a woman named Chastity and began gender reassignment surgery around three years ago - revealed he and longterm partner Jennifer Elia have been engaged for a long time and are hoping to tie the knot soon.

Chaz said: "We`ve been engaged actually for two years and have -- kind of had to put things on hold a little bit.

"I would say within a year, definitely. Not to make excuses, but we went through a lot. I transitioned. She went to grad school. Then, you know, we were making the film. And I wrote the book. "It was a lot. Now I feel like once this is over, we can sit down and plan a wedding."

The couple can now officially marry because Chaz is legally considered a man, but he insists he wouldn`t have been comfortable with a civil partnership when it was legalised briefly in California in 2008.

Asked if he considered a civil partnership, Chaz - whose parents are singer Cher and her late ex-husband Sonny Bono - told TV talk show host Piers Morgan: "Actually, no, we really weren`t, actually.

"We had a window. I knew at that point that I was going to transition. And I didn`t - it just didn`t feel right to me to get married as two women because I didn`t feel I was a woman."
sections: Celebrities