11 The Highest Paid Transgender Celebrities

Have you ever wondered who the highest paid transgender celebrities are? These celebrities are not only rich with the unique experiences of being transgender celebs; they are also rich in, well, moolah.

In the world where the majority of transgender individuals – and other members of the LGBT community – is struggling from discrimination at work, the ones on this list are breaking countless barriers as far as their net worth is concerned. Some of the celebs mentioned on this list have been earning their multiple-digit paychecks way before their transition, but it is quite amazing that their transition did not hurt their net worth. In a few cases, their transition even helped propel their careers and/or start their celebrity status!

Most of these celebrities belong to or are indirectly connected to Hollywood, but you probably would not expect which industry the highest paid transgender celebrity belongs to. She can easily give the 10 richest actors in the world a run for their Tinseltown money.

This list is ranked according to their 2015 net worth, based on the data from Full Net Worth and The Richest. Without the further ado, we present you the highest paid transgender celebrities in the world:

11. Andreja Pejic

Net worth: $200,000

In her early years as a model, Andreja Pejic was the poster child for androgynous modeling, walking the runway shows for both male and female collections of the likes of Jean-Paul Gaultier, Marc Jacobs, and Michalsky. He underwent sexual reassignment surgery in 2014. In May 2015, Pejic became the first openly transgendered fashion model who was profiled by elite magazine Vogue.

10. Chaz Bono

Net worth: $500,000

Transgender man Chaz Bono is a celebrated author, LGBT rights activist, and contestant on Dancing with the Stars. Oh, and he is also the child of Sonny and Cher. Chaz was born Chastity and grew up as a lesbian. It was not until 2008 that he decided to start his full transition to become male.

9. Kellie Maloney

Net worth: $600,000

Before she was Kellie Maloney, she was Frank Maloney known to the boxing world as a promoter having worked with big names like Lennox Lewis. In 2014, she announced her decision to undergo the transition process. A year later, she announced that her transition was complete.

8. Amanda Lepore

Net worth: $1.7 million

Amanda Lepore’s celebrity status is not only marked by her seven-digit net worth. Her celebrity status is signed and sealed by the many projects associated with her name: photo shoots with celebrity photographers like David LaChapelle and Terry Richardson, magazine covers, MAC Cosmetics campaigns, and her own cosmetics line. This performance artist-slash-singer-slash-model started her gender reassignment at 19.

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6. Carmen Carrera

Net worth: $2 million

Carmen Carrera is a regular face not just on TV and movies but is an influential name in social media. The actress and performer has appeared on TV shows like “RuPaul’s Drag Race”, “Jane the Virgin”, and “The Bold and the Beautiful”. Carmen Carrera has also appeared in the Meryl Streep Movie “Ricki and the Flash”.

6. Laverne Cox

Net worth: $2 million

Sharing Carmen Carrera’s number 6 spot on this list of the highest paid transgender celebrities is Laverne Cox. Aside from being one of the highest paid celebs, Laverne Cox has quite a lot of bragging rights to her name. For one, she is the first trans woman of color to have been cast in a mainstream TV series, by way of Netflix’s hit prison series “Orange is the New Black”. This role on “Orange…” has also earned her a Primetime Emmy Award nomination – the first transgender individual to have earned such honor. Laverne is also a popular LGBT rights activist and public speaker.

5. Conchita Wurst

Net worth: $3 million

Austrian performer Conchita Wurst may have been one of the boldest transgender women to appear in recent LGBT history. In 2014, Wurst made a big, bold statement during her Eurovision performance: she had a beard to go with her full feminine look. It was not a mustache, not a 3-day old stubble, or a subtle shadow but a full-on beard.

Conchita Wurst began her singing career as Thomas Neuwirth.

4. Laura Jane Grace

Net worth: $5 million

Laura Jane Grace is the lead vocalist of punk-rock band “Against Me”. She announced her transition in 2012. In 2014, her band released the album “Transgender Dysphoria Blues” which relates Grace’s own struggles with accepting her sexuality.

3. Caitlyn Jenner

Net worth: $100 million

Jumping up the notches by a hundred million is one of the most popular and talked-about transgender celebrities: Caitlyn Jenner. Before she announced her transition and became known to the world as Caitlyn Jenner, she was Bruce Jenner – a celebrated Olympic gold medalist, a fitness advocate, and more recently a reality star appearing on “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” alongside his ex-wife Kris Jenner, children Kendall and Kylie Jenner, and stepdaughters Kim, Kourtney, and Khloe Kardashian. After debuting post-transition with a Vanity Cover, Caitlyn Jenner earned her own reality show entitled “I Am Cait” which documented the process of his transition and the struggles she faced afterward.

2. Martine Rothblatt

Net worth: $390 million

Born Martin Rothblatt, Martine is only the CEO of United Therapeutics Corporation and is hailed as the highest paid female CEO in America. Before starting her biotech company, Rothblatt was a communications lawyer running her own digital radio company. The 60-year old, who came out as transgender 20 years ago, has four children one of whom had a rare disease that inspired her to start her biotech firm.

1. Jennifer Pritzker

Net worth: $1.79 billion

The only billionaire on this list of highest paid transgender celebrities, Jennifer Pritzker, belongs to one of the most surprising industries for transgenders: the military. The former Army Lieutenant Colonel announced her transition in August of 2013. She is the founder of Chicago’s military library, is on the Forbes list of America’s 400 richest, has investments in hotel (1.5% stocks in Hyatt hotels) and wealth management (CEO of Tawani Enterprises in Chicago), and is the ONLY known transgender billionaire in the world.

If there’s anything that this list of the 11 highest paid transgender celebrities proves, it’s that success knows no genders. The best part is, these transgender celebs are using both their celebrity status and their wealth to help advance the causes of the LGBT community and fight against discrimination.