SITTING in a quiet Tunbridge Wells bar and sipping on half a lager, Joy Watson admits: "I have always been both male and female."

The government agency worker, who is dressed in a feminine blouse and pearls, splits her time between two jobs and two totally different lifestyles.

She works in Tunbridge Wells and is known as "Joy" to friends and work colleagues.

But back in London, where her second job is, she reverts to the male identity she grew up with, although she says she always knew she was different.

The 52-year-old, who claims to be extremely private about her personal life, said: "I have to express the other side of my personality otherwise I just wouldn't be myself," she said.

"Any transgender person you speak to would say they tend to start experimenting with women's clothes from puberty and that applies to me as well.

"I love being a girl, especially when I am being pampered in the hairdressers or having a massage.

"I adore women and try very hard to be just like them," added the keen theatregoer.

Despite being open enough to live part of her life as a woman, Joy admits there are friends and family members who do not know about this side of her life.

She said: "So many trans people are in the closet and sometimes it can be very hard for them to realise they can be accepted in polite company.

"I think it is far easier to be a woman these days. They can wear what they want and do what they want. I think men can too, but they just don't know it yet."

Joy refused to reveal if she had undergone any gender transformation operations but did say she had real B-cup breasts.

"I have always felt like a woman inside, so whenever I can I try to look like a woman of about 40 on the outside," she said. "I'd rather blend into a crowd most of the time – I'm not into looking like an over-the-top queen."

She believes attitudes are changing towards transgender people but did concede the community did tend to stick together as it gave them a sense of support.

Despite this, she also revealed she had never been shunned publicly by anyone in the wider community when out socialising.

She added: "Only once at a theatre was I subject to bitchy comments, from an extremely common family in the row behind. I have my own lovely long hair, but this one time was unwisely wearing a blonde wig.

"Their sniggering went on throughout the performance – it really annoyed the other theatregoers, who I'm sure thought much less well of them than of my friend and I."

Joy has recently discovered she is to be made redundant from her London job of 31 years and now plans on focussing her attentions on a new business to help transsexuals and offer advice to families affected by the issue.

She added: "One of the reasons I decided to speak is to let people know they are not alone and there are people to help."