Today, Laverne Cox appeared on "CBS This Morning" with hosts Gayle King, Norah O'Donnell, and Charlie Rose. They started out talking about Cox's Emmy nomination – the first ever for an openly transgender person in an acting category– for her role on Orange is the New Black as Sophia Burset, the prison's resident hair stylist. They also announced that her cover for Time Magazine came second to the pope in popularity online. After hearing some of Cox's other projects aside from OitNB, King said her "career is really on fire."
Toward the beginning of the segment, Cox educated the hosts when prompted by King, who said, "So, you were born a boy…" Cox corrected her and explained, "Well I was assigned male at birth...the gender thing is something that someone imposes on you. So I was assigned male at birth, but I always felt like a girl."
Charlie Rose also asked what the most transformational moment, after experiencing the trauma of extreme bullying to accept herself, was for her, and she explained:
It was moving to New York and actually meeting transgender, actual transgender people. I had all sorts of misconceptions of who trans people were…and when I got to know actual trans people as people, all of my misconceptions about trans folks disappeared. And so I think when we get to know people as people, our misconceptions about people who are different from us can melt away.
Watch the full video of Laverne Cox's appearance on "CBS This Morning" below: