'Bold and the Beautiful' Reveals Transgender Character

Actress Karla Mosley says it's a "gift" and a "privilege" to be playing the character

After 28 years on the air, Bold and the Beautiful just aired its most genuinely unexpected twist yet.

On Wednesday’s episode, it was revealed that Maya Avant – who has been played by Karla Mosley on the soap for two years – is transgender. She was assigned male at birth with the name Myron.

This reveal came courtesy of her sister, Nicole (Reign Edwards), during an emotional argument. “You’re not my sister, Maya. You’re not Maya at all,” said Nicole. “You’re Myron, my brother.”

If you were surprised by Maya’s secret, you weren’t the only one.

“My first reaction was surprise, because 10 or 20 years ago, this is not a story we would be telling, and not in a way that’s truthful and not sensational,” Mosley, 33, told USA Today of her character’s transition.

“My second reaction was, ‘Thank you.’ It’s a gift. It’s a privilege,” she told the newspaper. “It’s a real opportunity to educate our viewers here and all over the world.”

“It is about people respecting other people’s differences and their uniqueness,” said Bradley Bell, executive producer and head writer for B&B in a statement obtained by USA Today.

“In the end, we all want to be loved, and in order to love someone else you first have to love yourself,” Bell added. “If you are transgender, gay, straight, it doesn’t matter. It’s about finding love in life. This is a love story.”

Maya’s Past Revealed