Kobe told his parents that he was transgender at age 11. At 13, Kobe said that older trans people online instructed him, as well as other kids, to “play the suicide card” in order to get chemical interventions.

“I started using, like, ‘the suicide tactics,’ because that’s what they are. That’s what they tell us all to do… I don’t want to use the word groom, but we are like taught. I guess the older transpeople teach us to say that stuff to get the health care and everything. And I mean, there were times when I thought I was genuinely suicidal over gender dysphoria, but it was I think it was all just stuff that was in my head. I don’t think I would have ever been suicidal about being biologically male if I had never been exposed to that stuff.”

Kobe was started on puberty blockers around 13, estrogen at 16 and later had castration surgery at 19.

Regarding cross-sex hormones – estrogen – Kobe said it impacted his cognition. He becomes foggy in the middle of conversations. Even now that he has been off of it for a few months, he still feels those effects. During the interview, he apologized for losing his train of thought numerous times – attributing it to the estrogen he used to take.