The trans advocate and author is preparing to announce a new project drawn from his own life and his forthcoming book — one he says is built to change the conversation around what it means to be transgender.
Micky Angelo Petrillo has spent the last two years turning his own story into a public one — and he’s not finished. The advocate, author, and speaker is preparing to announce a new project shortly, one rooted directly in his life and drawn in part from his upcoming book. Petrillo says the goal is bigger than telling his own story: it’s about shifting how transgender lives are understood at all.
Details are still under wraps, but Petrillo has been dropping hints to close collaborators for weeks that this is the project he’s been building toward since he began sharing his story publicly. More will be announced soon — for now, here’s the life the project is drawn from.
Early Life & Family
Micky Angelo Petrillo was born Michele Angela Petrillo on January 3, 1964, and raised in an Italian-Catholic, middle-class family in a small New Jersey town. He grew up the only girl in a household of boys, doted on by his grandparents — Grandma Minnie and Grandpa Angelo, whose first name he would later take as his own. Even surrounded by a large, close-knit family, Petrillo has said that something felt wrong from a very early age, a feeling he carried quietly through childhood.
Sports, Struggle & Survival
As a young athlete, Petrillo found refuge on the softball field and basketball court, excelling at sports even as he struggled with anger and a deep sense of not belonging. He has spoken candidly about a difficult period in his early teens, and about the role his grandparents played in keeping him going — a devotion to his family that outweighed everything else.
Relationships & Self-Discovery
Petrillo dated men through his teens and twenties, including a years-long relationship in his youth, before ultimately recognizing that his truth lay elsewhere. A pivotal moment at thirty reshaped his understanding of himself. Around the same period, a long-guarded family secret came to light when his father shared that he, too, was gay — a revelation that deepened their bond in the years that followed, even after a difficult and painful history between them.
Finding Support
The loss of his grandmother when Petrillo was thirty-one sent him into a period of profound grief. Determined to get help, he eventually connected with a therapist named Andrea, who would work with him for the next twenty-five years. Andrea helped him understand that he was living with bipolar disorder and depression, and guided him toward treatment that finally gave him language — and tools — for what he’d been carrying for decades.
Becoming Micky Angelo Petrillo
At fifty-nine, following a traumatic experience abroad, Petrillo confronted his identity head-on. In June 2023, he came into his authentic self as Micky Angelo Petrillo, and moved quickly: testosterone therapy that October, legal recognition of his name and gender that December, and surgery before the year was out. He marked his sixtieth birthday, on January 3, 2024, as Micky Angelo Petrillo in full — physically, legally, and emotionally.
A New Chapter
Petrillo has also transformed his physical health over the past fifteen years, dropping well over a hundred pounds through daily exercise and disciplined healthy living. He has spoken openly about the shift from avoiding mirrors and photographs to embracing them — a change he credits with restoring a sense of ease in his own body that took a lifetime to find.
Petrillo lost his father in 2021, before he was able to meet his son. Today, Petrillo speaks and writes about his journey with humor and candor, determined to use his story to foster understanding around an experience too often reduced to headlines. His new project, still under wraps, is the next chapter of that mission — and by his own account, it’s the biggest one yet.
More on Micky Angelo Petrillo’s upcoming announcement to follow shortly.
The official website for Micky Angelo Petrillo may be found at www.mickyangelopetrillo.com