The Mysterious Woman from the Teddy Pendergrass Car Crash in 1982
Tenika Watson, now 64 years old, was a nightclub performer and sex worker - until 2007. She is also a black trans woman and one of the first trans women to be caught up in a scandal with a famous man.
Watson endured death threats, discrimination and extreme hate from cis women when the scandal took wind all over media, revealing her trans status. They of course made the story into a sex scandal just because Watson is a trans woman and Teddy Pendergrass was a cis straight male. Just those two elements created a whirlwind of rumors that the industry ran with, thus causing Pendergrass to lose a big chunk of his fan base.
Tenika Watson was offered big time cash to tell her story to tabloids and news circuits - about her relationship to Teddy Pendergrass, but never once did. She kept his business privy. Even through her worst, she never debated on cashing in on his legacy for a cheap tabloid story.
Due to the scandal with Pendergrass, Watson was dropped from her modeling agency before her career even took off - because of her trans status. It wasn’t uncommon for trans models to lose work when it was exposed that they were trans. She confirms, “It destroyed [my modeling career]. I was told so by potential employers and it really made me doubt myself. It was a tough time. I had one reporter come to my house and try to force her way in the door. There were some very ugly things printed. I had to move out of the city. Which is sad because I love this city. I love the people, I love the neighborhoods … There are so many places to hide!”
She was forced back to sex work to support herself. She also became addicted to drugs. She felt guilt for being trans and knowing it affected Teddy’s career and for not getting as injured as Pendergrass was from the crash - leaving him paralyzed.
At 20 years old, Watson transitioned and admitted she was naive about being transgender and how unprotected trans women are, “I didn’t have any fear about transitioning. Though I do remember walking down the street in D.C. one time with a girlfriend of mine and she suddenly said, ‘Be careful, that man has a knife!’ I was so naïve I didn’t understand that he wanted to attack us just because of who we were. Next thing I knew, he swung the knife at our heads and we were running down the street. It was my first understanding that people might want to hurt me just because of my lifestyle.”
She speaks on transitioning in a rare time, “…This was in 1977 and it wasn’t heard of, though a lot of the girls were doing it. But back then, most girls transitioned with the thought that you would just live your life as a woman and never tell anybody. You weren’t supposed to be open about it. Once you had surgery, you never told anyone except your mate. That’s how it was back then. Once you were a woman, you put your past in a closet. I guess I’m part of that era. I have fought really hard to be respected as a woman. I don’t know if the girls nowadays really fight for the right to be totally respected as women after the surgery. You hear a lot of trans this and trans that and I don’t get it. Maybe I’m old-school, but once you have the surgery, you’re supposed to be a woman. Your birth certificate says female, your driver’s license says female and yet in articles I read, they still refer to you as a “transwoman.” And it’s like, what was it all for? Why did I go through all of this if I’m not going to be considered a woman? To me, transgender means transition. Moving from one gender to another, but once you’re there, that should be it if that’s what you want. I don’t know if girls today feel any kind of way about that, but I know I do. I don’t like the term.”
ellievsbear
amandla
gamechangershow
andulkaphoto
stormborns
romaincrisis
areudirty
origamiaround
izzy806
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
