'Jeopardy!' Champ Amy Schneider Explains Why She Came Out As Trans

Former "Jeopardy!" champion Amy Schneider has become a role model not just for "Jeopardy!" fans, but for people around the world.

In a recent interview with Insider, Amy explained why she decided to come out as trans, starting from the end of 2016 into the beginning of 2017.

Amy indicated that there wasn't some giant, monumental life shift that aided her decision to come out. She said, "It was just the thought suddenly crossing my mind that were I to die at that moment, that I would be buried in a suit and have my old name on my gravestone."

"It felt like something I did not have a choice about," Amy continued. "For me to continue to hide myself and to continue to wear my old clothes and answer to my old name and all that sort of thing, it just felt intolerable."

Unfortunately, not everyone was supportive of her transition. Although Amy said that she lost a good friend, she was relieved to find that her transition went better than she had expected.

"When I came out and I was like, 'This is who I am,' the general reaction was, 'Well, OK. Let's move on,' which was pretty surprising and pretty wonderful," Amy recalled.

Amy admitted that she was concerned with how her mother would take the news, especially since she was raised in a religious family in Dayton, Ohio.

"When I told my mom, the first thing she said was, 'That's a hard life,'" Amy recalled, adding, "There's some truth in that. It's hard, especially right now, as there's so much hatred out there in the world for people like me. And to see that happening and to feel picked on and targeted, that's not a good feeling."

Amy said that the recent wave of anti-trans legislation has "been tough" butbshe said that coming out "certainly is all outweighed by far by the good things that have come out of it."

After coming out, Amy Schneider that she "became myself in so many more ways than just my gender." Although she had previously described herself as introverted and shy, Amy found that she was a lot more extroverted after coming out as her authentic self.

"I feel like I became better at my job. I became better in relationships. I became better in all these different ways because I could be fully present in them in a way that I'd never been able to be before," Amy said.

She also said that she was glad that she was accepted to "Jeopardy!" after making her transition. "Things would've gone differently for me had I gotten onto 'Jeopardy' before transitioning," Amy said. She confessed that she had actually been auditioning for more than a decade before she got the call to appear on the show.

Amy firmly believes that "people wouldn't have liked me as much" if she had participated in the show prior to her transition. "People wouldn't have connected with me because I wasn't giving them anything to connect to," she added.

That being said, her transition did make some parts of the audition process harder.

"One of the things I struggled with was whether to use the same email address I had applied with in the past," Amy revealed, concerned what producers would think if they saw she had a different first name.

In the end, Amy decided to use the same email address, saying, "It's not something I'm going to hide. It's not something I probably could hide if I wanted to. It just made sense to own that all throughout the process."

Although Amy wrapped up her 40-game win streak in January, she still gets messages from fans who have said that she's made them feel like coming out "was more possible than they realized."

However, she's also gotten messages from family members. Amy said, "I've gotten more comments that I have helped loved ones, parents and grandparents, of trans people."

Throughout her experiences, Amy has decided to encourage everyone to come out and live their authentic lives, even if they're not LGBTQIA+.

"It can feel like that's great if you have something to come out as, if you're gay or trans, but I think that coming out is something that's for everyone," Amy said. "It doesn't have to be about your sexuality or anything."

For example, Amy said that a person may tell their friends and family that they're looking forward to have children, when inwardly, they don't feel like they want to be a parent.

"Coming out's for everyone," Amy said. "I recommend it highly."

Fans of Amy can look forward to seeing her compete in the 2022 "Jeopardy!" Tournament of Champions this November.