Dylan Mulvaney Slams Backlash Over Her Transition—'I'm Not Some Monster'

Dylan Mulvaney has spoken out against the criticism she has received since coming out as a transgender woman—insisting she's not a "monster."

For several weeks, Bud Light has been the focus of a divided debate after sending social media influencer Mulvaney, 26, a personalized can of its beer.

In early April, Mulvaney shared a video on Instagram in which she explained that Bud Light had sent her a can with her face on it to commemorate 365 days of her living as a woman. Mulvaney's Days of Girlhood video series, which charts her first year of transitioning, has been a viral success.

"It's sad that there are still so many people that are trying to use this really beautiful journey against me and twisting my words and taking things out of context," she said in an interview that aired on Thursday. "But at the end of the day, I'm happier than I ever have been, because I could I can't imagine going back to that other person. It breaks my heart to think about it."

The partnership between Bud Light and Mulvaney has drawn condemnation from some social media users, who issued calls for a boycott. Musician Kid Rock shared footage of himself opening fire on a stack of Bud Light cans. And country music star Travis Tritt reacted by announcing that he would no longer request any Anheuser-Busch products on his tour hospitality rider.

Caitlyn Jenner, who transitioned to female in 2015, recommended an alternative beer brand as she commented on a Twitter post from British influencer Oli London, who previously identified as transracial, gender neutral and transgender.

Amid criticism and plummeting sales, some executives at Bud Light recently took a leave of absence, including vice president of marketing Alissa Heinerscheid and her boss Daniel Blake, who oversees marketing for Anheuser-Busch's mainstream brands.

Mulvaney had also faced her share of detractors several months before the Bud Light incident, after publicly documenting her life as a transgender woman.

Making an appearance on Chelsea Handler's Dear Chelsea podcast, which was released on Thursday, Mulvaney spoke about telling her mom that she was a girl as a 4-year-old while growing up in a "very Catholic, very conservative" home in Southern California.

"God doesn't make mistakes," Mulvaney recalled her mother responding to her declaration, leading to the youngster suppressing her transgender identity. She came out as gay at age 14. A decade later, the gender question arose again.

"It was then at the pandemic, I was touring with a Broadway musical called The Book of Mormon," she said. "I spent my whole life you know, doing theater playing these male roles, and there was no room even in that industry to be trans.

"So once the pandemic hit, it was the first time that I didn't even have to see myself playing a part. I was like, 'Who is Dylan really without theater and religion and all these things that had been put on me?' I was a really feminine little boy. And I felt like I stripped parts of myself away for so many years that I'm now finding again."

"I identified as nonbinary for about a year, went by they/them pronouns, and it still was not where I was supposed to be," she went on. "I think it was so daunting making that jump from being a man to [a woman]. That trans woman title scared the s*** out of me... I thought the nonbinary moment of my life was kind of this little cloud that I got to land on for a hot second. And it was not the end of my journey. That's when I finally accepted, I actually started hormones, while I was nonbinary, to feminize my body and then I took on that she pronoun, and it feels so good."

Explaining why she chose to share her transition journey on social media, Mulvaney said that "a lot of people don't have a Dylan in their lives to ask questions and I think that's kind of why I got online... I wanted to be that friend for people. I wanted to show that I'm not some monster.

When comedian Handler brought up surgeries that Mulvaney has undergone as part of her transition—including facial feminization—the TikTok star expressed frustration at another opinion a number of her critics have shared.

"I really get upset when people say, 'She woke up one day and just decided she wanted to be a girl.' Like, this was not a decision. This was who every fiber of my being is, and I put in a lot of fricking effort and [went through] a lot of mental gymnastics, a lot of therapy, a lot of soul-searching to do this.

"This is something that I don't take lightly. I think that this journey that I'm on, going on hormones, those were all huge decisions that I had to make and very private ones. And while every transition looks completely different, there are trans people that aren't on hormones or that may choose not to get surgeries. But for those of us who need those things for our dysphoria, we need access to them and we can't be vilified for needing those things."