Liev Schreiber Speaks Out About Trans Daughter: ‘Kai Is a Fighter’

Whereas talking with Selection on Thursday, the actor — who shares Kai with ex Naomi Watts — praised his 16-year-old daughter, and mentioned his personal advocacy work for the transgender group.

Schreiber, 57, mentioned Kai didn’t technically come out to him and Watts, alluding that he and the actress already knew about their daughter’s true id. Nonetheless, he did recall the second Kai requested her dad and mom to make use of she/her pronouns.

“Kai was all the time who Kai is,” he instructed Selection. “However I suppose essentially the most profound second was her asking us to vary her pronouns. To be trustworthy with you, it did not really feel like that massive of a deal to me solely as a result of Kai had been so female for therefore lengthy.”

The Ray Donovan alum went on to gush over how his daughter has proudly stepped up in her group.

“Kai is such a fighter,” he mentioned. “It is necessary that she goes, ‘Hey, I’m trans,’ and, ‘Have a look at me.'”

Schreiber opened as much as the outlet about his and his daughter’s plans to attend the upcoming Ali Forney Middle’s A Place on the Desk Galaa fundraiser in New York Metropolis which helps elevate consciousness and funding for homeless LGBTQ+ youth.

The Good Couple star shared why it is necessary for him and Kai to assist out these locally who’re in want.

“This is not nearly representing the trans group,” Schreiber mentioned. “That is really a group of people that haven’t got nice sources, who don’t have entry to assist, who aren’t being protected and taken care of by their households. These are people who find themselves being rejected. These are people who find themselves experiencing the harshest model of humanity that we are able to provide, and a few of them usually are not surviving it.”

“We obtained to bear that in thoughts after we go on the market and glam ourselves up and prepare to be seen, ?” he added. “That what we’re doing is definitely elevating cash for a group that desperately wants it.”

Schreiber went on to share his recommendation for his dad and mom who’ve kids popping out as trans — or reasonably, navigating parenting teenagers basically.

“I do not know the reply on your child,” he admitted. “I do not know what it’s like so that you can be a trans dad. I do not know the way you have been introduced up. I do not know what faith you encountered or what your spirituality is. And for me to inform you what I take into consideration my child looks like an overstep.”

“I assume if I’d say something to somebody who’s having hassle with their trans teen or their adolescent trans child it is ‘Youngsters are a headache. They’re exhausting,'” he mentioned with fun. “It would not matter whether or not they’re trans or not since you’ll come out of this. However a trans teen goes to be a teen. They’re such a ache a lot of the time.”

“Kai is as feisty and outspoken as they arrive,” Schreiber added of his daughter, who made her modeling debut in March when she walked the Valentino Able to Put on runway present in Paris Trend Week. (See picture, above.)

In the meantime, amid the Trump administration’s assaults on the transgender group, the Tony winner shared why he tries to not give attention to it.

“I do not prefer to dwell on it an excessive amount of,” Schreiber mentioned. “To some extent, I really feel like I don’t wish to overcook that worry or that anxiousness. There’s sufficient on the earth to be troubled and afraid about.”

Whereas this interview seems to mark the primary time Schreiber has mentioned Kai being transgender, the Defiance star and Watts have publicly expressed their help for his or her daughter.

Following Kai’s modeling debut, each Schreiber and Watts, 56, took to social media to reward Kai.

“That’s my @maisonvalentino child! I’m squealing with delight. Ilysm @kaischreiberrr ❤️,” Watts captioned an Instagram carousel that includes pictures and movies of Kai look within the runway present.

In his publish of a photograph of Kai, Schreiber wrote, “Women and gents the one, the one, the indomitable @kaischreiberr!”

Along with Kai, Schreiber and Watts — who cut up in 2016 after 11 years collectively — additionally share 17-year-old son, Sasha. Schreiber married Taylor Neisen in July 2023, and the pair welcomed a daughter the next August. Watts, in the meantime, tied the knot with actor Billy Crudup in 2023.