Some lesser known facts about Namitha Marimuthu
- Namitha Marimuthu is an Indian transgender model, actress and social activist. In 2021, she appeared as a contestant in Star Vijay’s Tamil television reality show Bigg Boss Season 5.
- During Namita’s teenage years, she realized her feminine behavior. According to Namitha Marimuthu, at the age of thirteen, she was harassed by her parents to change her feminine behaviour. Later, her parents forced her to undergo breast surgery to remove the excess breast fat.
- At the age of sixteen, her parents sent her to a mental rehabilitation center for six months to change her feminine behavior. After six months, her parents brought her back home to determine any changes in Namita’s behavior; However, according to Namita, after returning from the rehabilitation center, her feminine behavior became more noticeable. In an interview Namitha Marimuthu talked about this and said,
By the age of 16 I was sent to a mental rehabilitation center for 6 months and I was living my life with people who really had problems. After 6 months of treatment, I was taken home to check for any changes. But my hormones started working even more and my feminine behavior was too obvious to anyone. ,
- Then, at the age of seventeen, Namita’s parents forcibly sent her to a different rehabilitation center for drug addiction. In a media interview, she talked about the rehabilitation center and shared that people admitted to the rehabilitation center walked around naked, and the center provided them with medicines to put them to sleep. He said,
Then at the age of 17 I was sent to a different rehabilitation centre, this time for drug addicts. People were walking around naked without consciousness and the center gave us medicines to make us sleep. Most of the time we slept there, and after 4 months I was sent home.
- Namita, at the age of eighteen, was again sent to a different rehabilitation center by her parents, who offered to change her identity; However, Namita managed to escape rehabilitation. After escaping from the rehabilitation center, Namita walked 80 km to reach her grandparents’ house. He talked about this in an interview and said,
One day I broke the window completely and after midnight I jumped from the third floor to the nearby tree. With the help of the tree I landed with less damage to my body. Not knowing the date or time, I walked over 80 km to reach my grandparents’ house and told them about the pain I was going through. I told her initially that I would agree to marry a girl to stay in the house.”
- Later, in 2010, Namita escaped from her grandparents’ house and with the help of Sahodaran, a non-profit LGBTQ organization., Complaint against his parents in Madras High Court. According to Namita, her complaint was the first case in the history of Indian transgender rights. Following the verdict of Namita’s case, the Madras Court ruled for legal separation from her parents; However, Namita said that after the court passed a legal separation, her parents continued to harass her.
- Three months after Namita separated from her parents, she decided to transform herself into a woman. In an interview, she talked about this and said that the non-profit organization Sahodaran helped her in the transition of women. he quoted,
After three months of separation, I decided to convert and live as a woman full time. I could afford it because of my job and my friends as I was working for Sahodaran, and I also used to dance on stage, which earned me little income. This money helped me become a woman at a very young age. After my transition, my parents did not accept me for two months, but then after interacting with Sahodaran, my parents accepted me as a woman.
- Soon after completing his higher secondary education, he did his B.Tech in Computer Science; However, since she ran away from her home, she had to drop out in the final year of the course. According to Namita, leaving engineering midway is the deepest regret of her career. He talked about this in an interview and said,
I deeply regret that I did not complete engineering; I had to drop out in my final year because I left home. Otherwise I could have lived a different life as a software engineer.”
- After this Namita started her career in modeling. In 2015, she participated in the Miss Kovagam pageant held in Villupuram, Tamil Nadu. In 2018, she won the Miss Trans Queen pageant. In 2019, she represented India at the Miss Trans International held in Barcelona. In the pageant, she won the titles of Miss Popular and Miss Public Favorite.
- In June 2022, she participated in the Miss International Queen held in Thailand. Miss International Queen is the world’s largest beauty pageant for transgender women.
- According to Namita, when she decided to pursue a career in modeling, she underwent a massive weight change. In a media interview, he talked about this and said,
I was over 100kg. One day I felt I needed to do something, and started a strict diet and exercise regime, and lost weight. Then came the opportunity to enter Miss Chennai (for transwomen). I gave it a shot, and won. I also won the title of Miss Pondicherry. My dream is to win the Miss Transqueen India pageant next year, and then represent the country in an international pageant.”
- In 2020, she made her acting debut with the Tamil film Nadodigal 2, in which she played the role of Priya. In an interview, he talked about the character he played in his first film and said,
Priya from “Nadodigal 2″ is the real-life story of a successful trans woman who becomes a police inspector in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. I was impressed by the director’s choice of story and agreed to do the script. Also, Indian cinema has always portrayed trans persons in a negative light but this story has really changed the opinion of the society. Yes, I am a full time actress and model. I am working on several projects right now. But I look forward to working on more stories about trans women empowerment.”
- Subsequently, in 2021, she participated in the Star Vijay television reality show Bigg Boss 5; However, she walked out of the Bigg Boss house before completing a week on the show. Later, in a media interview, he talked about the reality show and said that he had to leave the show due to medical reasons. Reportedly, Namita got a UTI infection from using the common washroom in the Bigg Boss house.
- In an interview, Namita expressed her interest in writing her autobiography. In addition, she said that she wants to write about her transition as a transgender. he quoted,
Yes, later in my life I’m sure I’ll write a book on the transition I’ve experienced and how my life has changed. This will be my story. The only legacy is to leave our words for how people will remember us. So I really want to make it with a cool effect.
- According to Namitha, Tamil Nadu is better than other states in terms of attitude towards transwomen. In Tamil Nadu, she was provided with a transgender card. Also, in other states of India, the ID card contains the birth name of the transgender; However, Namitha Marimathu’s birth name has been changed in the passport and her gender is mentioned as a female on her Aadhaar card. In an interview, Namita talked about this and said,
We have a transgender card, which is not given to anyone else in the country. Also, in most other states, the ID card contains the birth name. However, my name has been changed in my passport, and my gender is mentioned in the Aadhaar card as female. ,