(CNN) — Bradley Manning wants to be a woman.
The U.S. Army soldier sentenced this week to 35 years in prison for leaking 750,000 pages of classified documents to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks said Thursday in a statement read on NBC’s “Today” show that will seek hormone therapy and live as a female named Chelsea.
“As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me,” Manning said in the statement. “I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible. I hope that you will support me in this transition.”
Manning’s lawyer, David Coombs, told “Today” that he hopes officials at Fort Leavenworth military prison will provide his client the hormone therapy.
