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Tommy Dorfman's husband Peter Zurkuhlen files for divorce

3 February 2022, 16:38

Tommy Dorfman lives it up at event in the wake of coming out as transgender

By Jazmin Duribe

Tommy Dorfman married Peter Zurkuhlen in 2016.

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Tommy Dorfman and her husband Peter Zurkuhlen have reportedly decided to part ways after five years of marriage.

On Tuesday (Feb 1), Peter filed for divorce in Los Angeles, court documents obtained by PEOPLE show. The couple first met in 2005 through a mutual friend and married in Portland, Maine, in November 2016.

The divorce proceedings come six months after Tommy announced she is a transgender woman. In an interview with TIME in July 2021, the 13 Reasons Why actress revealed she'd been living privately as a trans woman for a year. "Coming out is always viewed as this grand reveal, but I was never not out," she explained.

Tommy Dorfman's husband Peter Zurkuhlen files for divorce. Picture: Alamy, Jared Siskin/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

"Today is about clarity: I am a trans woman. My pronouns are she/her. My name is Tommy."

Tommy also opened up about how her relationship with Peter had changed since she had started transitioning. She said: "Personally, it's wild to be 29 and going through puberty again. Some days I feel like I'm 14. As a result of that shift, the types of romantic partnerships I seek out are different.

"I was in a nine-year relationship in which I was thought of as a more male-bodied person, with a gay man. I love him so much, but we've been learning that as a trans woman, what I'm interested in is not necessarily reflected in a gay man. So we've had incredible conversations to redefine our relationship as friends. Transitioning has been liberating and clarifying."

And, speaking about the grief and loss that comes with transitioning, Tommy continued: "One doesn’t have to medically transition to be trans, but for me, it was an active choice. I’m aligning my body with my soul. Yet as a result of that, I am losing some things.

"I have to reckon with the fact that I brought along a lot of people and things who might not end up being there for this part of my journey. All I can do now is look to a future where I am, hopefully, just radically honest. That’s the person I am becoming."

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At the time, Peter publicly expressed support for Tommy on Instagram, reposting her TIME photoshoot alongside the caption: "So much love. You are gorgeous and you are fully you."