Cher's daughter says getting sober gave her the confidence to start her gender re-assignment surgery.

Chastity Bono - the 40-year-old daughter of the 'Believe' singer and her late husband Sonny who is now living as a man called Chaz - never felt comfortable being a female and knew the time was right to have a sex change.

Chaz said: "It wasn't a sudden decision. I've been doing therapy for a long time. It's a long process going back almost a decade. I got clean and sober in 2004 and I couldn't have done this before that.

"I always felt like the male from the time I was a child. There wasn't much feminine about me. I believe that gender is something between your ears not between your legs. That is something I discovered in the early 90s. It was just a long process of being comfortable enough to do something about it. I was turning 40 and I thought it's now or never."

Chaz began the process in March by taking male hormone pills but the complete change will take some time to progress.

Chaz revealed on US TV show 'Entertainment Tonight': "I will be changing for about four to five years in total but I'll be on testosterone for the rest of my life. The nice thing about this process is it is slow. I am literally going through puberty."

However, Chaz wouldn't reveal what surgery she would be having, saying: "That's a personal decision and I don't really feel comfortable talking about anything below the waist."