Jazz Jennings is rocking her bikini body! She's focusing on confidence following her third surgery on her gender confirmation journey. "Confidence is key ," she captioned a GIF of her strutting in a bikini. "Strutting into a new episode of #IamJazz on @tlc like … ." The 19-year-old's TLC series, I Am Jazz, began its sixth season on January 28.
Jazz has bravely shared the highs and lows of her experience as a transgender teen. She's done this as an activist, as a YouTuber, and as a reality star. Last season, we saw Jazz's emotional journey approaching, going through, and recovering from her first two gender confirmation surgeries. The final stage of her transition began in June 2018. You can't help but feel overjoyed for Jazz as she finally gets the body to match the person she's always been inside.
With her third surgery, Jazz was making cosmetic improvements on the work done in her previous two surgeries. In an Instagram post on February 4, Jazz shared that the surgery had taken place.
Jazz Jennings is living her best life after her third gender confirmation surgery. The 19-year-old first shared that she'd undergone a third surgery in early February.
"I’m feeling so great after completing my third surgery!" she captioned a hospital photo. "This third procedure was for cosmetics, and I’m super happy with the results. Thank you to everyone who has followed my journey and supported me along the way❤️ ."
Jazz's third surgery was also featured in the season premiere of season six of I Am Jazz. While the surgery goes successfully in the episode, doctors do warn her parents that there may be a fourth surgery on the horizon.
"I wanted it to be a one-and-done procedure, and I’ve had two surgeries already, and this is going to be the third," she says in the episode. "But I’m accepting it for what it is."
Jazz's family has been her biggest support system throughout her gender confirmation journey. In the comments of the photo, older brother Sander noted how nerve-racking her surgeries have been. "Although this surgery was one of the scariest moments of my life, I am so glad I was there to stick by your side the entire way ," he supportively said.
Jazz has been particularly appreciative of her family's support recently. She shared a photo of herself, mom Jeanette, dad Greg, twin brothers Sander and Griffen, and sister Ari on Instagram just yesterday.
"When the lights fade away and cameras shut down, my family always remains by my side. A unified kinship full of laughter, love, and support ," she wrote.
Jazz spoke about how important their support has been to her on I Am Jazz, prior to going into the first of her surgeries in June 2018.
"Having my whole family with me throughout this entire journey has been so important," Jazz said. "From the beginning, they have just provided me with unconditional love and support and the fact that they’re here on this day just signifies that we’ve come so, so far since the beginning of this journey. This is really the final step, this is the final transition, and I’m so glad that I have them by my side."
Those who have followed Jazz's journey know just how long she waited to have a body to match how she felt inside. Seeing her finally able to have and embrace that is truly beautiful.
"There are no words to describe how incredible this moment is," she said at the time. "I feel like I have been envisioning this day my entire life and now it is finally happening and it’s just so surreal that it’s all occurring right here, right now."
While there have been all of these joyous moments for Jazz in this journey, there have also been setbacks. In October, complications led to a second surgery. She was in the hospital for 10 days and couldn't be cleared to travel back to her Florida home for another 13 days.
There have also been emotional struggles. Jazz shared her concerns that she'd be hit harder by her anxiety and depression when she went away. She was accepted to Harvard.
"I’m nervous," she admitted to Thrive Global. "I feel like college is going to be a great place for me to step out of my shell, be independent, and build new routines and habits and ways of living. But it’s also a place where I can feel that anxiety and depression to an even greater degree than I do now, because there’s so much going on all the time."
"You want to be involved in everything, but school’s stressful in and of itself," she continued. "I’ll be studying for tests and exams and trying to be the best I can be. In high school, I always got straight As, because I put that pressure on myself. But going into college, I want to focus on taking care of myself, and building good habits — that’s really my focus."
Fans kept their eyes on Jazz's socials to see what she thought when she got to Harvard. Though she was active on social media during the time, she never directly mentioned college. In October, she revealed she had decided to defer her Harvard acceptance.
"I wanted to share some news. After careful consideration, I have decided to take a break before starting at Harvard," Jazz shared in an Instagram caption. "It wasn’t an easy decision but it is the right one for me."
"These past few years have been so full and busy that I realized I could use some time to refocus and recenter to be the strongest version of myself," she continued. "I am so grateful to have the support of my parents and Harvard in making this decision and look forward to focusing on some self-care and getting prepared to start this exciting next chapter in my life❤️."
Jazz received an overwhelming amount of support from her followers, who emphasized she needed to prioritize self-care.
In a photo Jazz shared on New Year's Eve, it seemed like she was getting to a better place. She shared a bikini photo with her gender confirmation surgery scars on display.
"These are my scars on full display in #2019," she wrote. "I'm proud of my scars and love my body just the way it is. I call them my battle wounds because they signify the strength and perseverance it took to finally complete my transition❤️#decadechallenge."
Jazz has had an incredibly unique journey as one of the youngest people to ever transition, and certainly so publicly. This year, Jazz will enter a new stage of her life as she turns 20. With her transition on the verge of completion, it stands to be her best decade yet.
