Givenchy model is transsexual

A FRENCH fashion house has caused a stir after announcing its latest stunning supermodel signing used to be a MAN (in the middle on the pic).

Brazilian bombshell Lea T was plucked from the backroom staff of posh fashion giant Givenchy to star in its ad campaigns.

The leggy brunette - born a man called Leandro Cerezo - will also soon appear in Italian Vanity Fair and has posed naked for French Vogue.

Lea, 28, is currently having hormone replacement therapy before undergoing a sex change operation.

The beauty said the transformation has meant she has been shunned by her strict Catholic family - including her dad - former Brazil international footballer Toninho Cerezo.

The model said her father "doesn`t even like to touch on this matter".

But she has remained positive saying: "The choice is between being unhappy forever or trying to be happy."

Givenchy`s creative director, Riccardo Tisci, said of Lea: "She`s a true goddess.

"She`s always been very feminine - super-fragile, very aristocratic."

sections: Celebrities