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Outlook: From Buddhist Monk to Catwalk Model

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Mimi Tao

02/02/2016 GMT

From Buddhist Monk to Catwalk Model

BBC World Service - Outlook, From Buddhist Monk to Catwalk Model

The Thai boy who left temple life to join the fashion world, as a woman.

Mimi Tao is a famous model in Thailand. But she was born a boy, and spent her childhood training to become a Buddhist monk.

Mimi Tao is a famous model in Thailand. She is a regular on the catwalk and in advertising campaigns, and appears in photo shoots modelling swimsuits and lingerie. But as a child Mimi wore the saffron robes of a Buddhist monk. She was born a boy, and it was during training for the monkhood that Mimi started to question her identity. 

Eric Underwood is a rising star of the Royal Ballet in London. He came from a tough neighbourhood on the outskirts of Washington DC in the US, and got into ballet school by accident. 

Noela Rukundo was in her home country of Burundi when armed men forced her into a car, drove her away, and told her she was going to be killed. Worst still, Noela discovered that it was her husband who had paid for this to happen. The men took pity on her, and allowed Noela to return home to confront her husband.

British soldier Chris Graham was just 34 when he found out he had inherited a rare form of Alzheimer's - a disease that normally strikes the elderly, and that stops the brain from forming and storing memories. Chris decided to raise money for research into the disease by organising what he called a Dementia Adventure - a 16-thousand-mile cycle trip across North America.

(Picture: Timi Tao. Credit: Thai Model Management/Itthipol Deemee.)

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