Two years ago, when she went to be grilled by Francesca Fagnani in the "Belve" studio, she smiled through her curls and explained that she saw herself as a mythological being, half man and half woman. A month ago, the percentages already seemed less balanced: when an accident in Gallura prompted awareness of road dangers, the tall, blonde, and curvaceous woman who popped up to urge caution on her Instagram profile was a tall, blonde, and buxom woman. But gender is only one chapter in the saga of metamorphosis that sees Alghero native Genny, formerly Giacomo Urtis—and we'll see how the name transition is in some ways the most laborious—at the center of a kaleidoscope that frames at one time the person informed about the events of Arcore and at another the linchpin of a Dagospie-esque glamour; the trendy cosmetic doctor and the homo faber of his own nature, largely corrected and rethought; the commercial acumen and the visceral connection to his family of origin; reality TV and the clinic; the pride of a pioneer of self-promotion and the elusiveness of a Narcissus who would make the water boil with exasperation, by making it reflect an ever-changing image.

How's your arm going?

“Well, there are some scars left, but they’re fixable.”

Said by her...

"Now we don't think that the scars will be removed like this, but considering that I was in a head-on collision with two cars, we can say that I didn't hurt myself."

How Genny avoids jokes about Jacopo Ortis and the last letters...

"Yes, now the problem is different. The customer comes because they know that name, which over the years has become a brand. If they see Genny Urtis they say: 'Who is this?' In fact, I don't change it on social media."

A rebranding is possible.

"Yes, but I'm scared."

Has everything changed and you're afraid of changing your name?

"Darling, it's a question of money. We live under that name, we support houses, staff... It's fine that I want to become trans, but I can't mess up my job."

Why Genny?

"I like short names. They're used a lot in my family; my grandfather didn't like diminutives and gave names that couldn't be abbreviated. And then Genny starts with a G: having initials everywhere, including suitcases, bells, and whatever, I don't have to redo anything. I mean, I'd have to change my documents: in the photo I have bald head and a beard."

First she said, “It’s okay that I want to become trans.”

"I live like a woman. I don't have a beard, I have long hair, I have breasts. That's what trans is all about."

If he weren't a hyper-public figure, it wouldn't make sense to ask: is this a transition that will be completed?

Even when I was a man, I was dark-haired, curly-haired, blond with a quiff... I've been fine throughout my life. I might say, "Never have breasts! Do you think I'm going to get breasts?" And then, from one week to the next, I decide. It depends on how I feel. But I don't want to become a superwoman: I won't be and I can't be. And yet, I see people who overdo it."

In what sense?

"They change their voices, they raise their Adam's apples... But why? There are so many women around, and those who come with you do so because they like who you are."

The Adam's apple is too much.

"But there are so many procedures that leave me like this... We do them at the clinic, and I even like them on other people, but when I think about them on myself, I find them excessive. Besides, everyone who comes with me is also looking for that masculine side, right? So there's no point in killing myself with procedures."

Well, he did something.

«I liked breasts, I did it and that's okay: I like myself».

Is it harder to answer Fagnani on TV or Boccassini in the Prosecutor's Office?

"Both were demanding, let's say. Fagnani kept me on for two hours, averaging one question every three minutes; by the end, I was sweating. Then they edit, but it turned out to be one of his longest interviews."

And Boccassini?

"It had lasted a good three or four hours, he wanted to know everything. Even though... They could have called you just because you'd had dinner there, or because you were friends with someone, or because you'd given her a couple of treatments."

The idea was to see if they were included in the bunga-bunga package.

"But they were all friends of mine, and I give my friends treatments. Besides, there weren't many aesthetic doctors in Milan at the time. Now you see doctors making videos and going on social media, but I was the first in Italy."

How did it go?

I had a friend who worked as a PR guy at a nightclub: Marcelo Burlon, the designer, who later became incredibly famous and rich himself. He'd invite people via Facebook, and I'd see thousands of them show up. And I said to myself, 'Sorry, but I do the same thing with medicine.' I started making videos where I talked about treatments rather than other things, and they went viral. I was really attacked by the medical establishment; they saw it as a frivolous idea. I had professors who said to me, 'Come on, you want to be a beautician!'

They've said worse to her: some people at Zanzara called her a debauched person.

«Yes, Anna from Rome… But the Mosquito is like that, you have to put on a bit of a show».

There is an Italy that sees it as the symbol of sin.

«Of course».

Let's test: pride.

"I see it in those who are the more nobody, the more ignorant, and the more proud they are. So no, I'm a very simple person. In fact, sometimes a little pride would have been useful, because in a world of evil people, it helps you keep your distance."

Envy?

"I had one, but the healthy one. For example, at university I envied the classmate who had taken the most exams, and that encouraged me."

Anger?

"Oh, that one! But why, is it a sin?"

It really seems so.

«I'm angry all day long, I get pissed off with the employees... but I don't know if you can call it anger».

You should ask the employees.

«But I get angry with just words».

And thank goodness. Sloth?

"Oh my God, what was the sloth?"

It's somewhere between laziness and depression.

"No, not at all. In fact, sometimes I exaggerate: now, in addition to my clinics, I've started working in real estate. When we're done, I have to go to the construction site."

Avarice?

"I call my father a velociraptor, because of his short arms. Until a couple of years ago, he still gave me an allowance. So I've been trained to live very, very frugally."

Throat?

"Yes, gluttony, yes. But it really runs in the family. My mother pretends to be on a diet on social media and then orders sweets and desserts."

Lust.

"Well, I go through phases. Lust doesn't want worries, and now I have a lot of them."

Theological counterproof. Faith?

"A lot. I went to Medjugorje when Yugoslavia was still there, I visited every shrine in Italy, I went to charismatic Masses, I was an altar boy... unfortunately, I have less time now."

Speaking of Faith: can we now say that she was pricking him?

"He was one of my first patients in Milan, and he also made me do a lot of TV. I'm so sorry he's gone. He also suffered from anger, but he was truly good."

Let's move on: hope?

«It should never be lacking, but I see many people who only have that and don't roll up their sleeves».

Charity?

«I donated the compensation from some people who had insulted me to charity».

To whom?

"Organizations that fight against harassment of LGBTQ+ people."

Putin has a radical idea of rejuvenation: if you transplant your organs one by one, you become immortal.

"What nonsense, what about rejection? With the immune system's reaction multiplied tenfold, you die of infections or spend your life vacuum-packed, stuffed with immunosuppressants."

Celestino Tabasso

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