‘I’m setting myself free from shame’: Laverne Cox on her brutal childhood and life as a trans woman in Trump’s America (opens in new tab)

Before Orange Is the New Black made her a star, Cox endured bullying, abuse, harassment and violence. She talks about the bad old days – and her fears they’re on their way backTwo days before she spoke to me, Laverne Cox had been at the premiere of a new, animated Animal Farm, in which she voices Snowball. The film is wildly controversial, for its absolutely unOrwellian, childish tone, complete with happy ending, but Cox had bigger things on her mind than film criticism.“If we don’t wake up a...