Nic Chien speaks up on trans journey

By Trisha Matabalan, Philippine Canadian Inquirer

February 5, 2026

(Screengrab from Rated Korina/YouTube)

Philippines – Nic Chien, the son of Broadway icon Lea Salonga and Robert Chien, opens up on Rated Korina about his journey towards being a trans man.

During his interview, Nic Chien is quick to affirm, “I am not a different person. I am still Nicole, but I am not called Nicole anymore because I’m not a Nicole. But I’m still the same person, you know.”

Transness is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as, “having a gender that does not match the body you were born with.”

Nic opens up on how not being seen as a man had severe effects on his mental health. He experienced body dysphoria, insecurity, and anxiety. He says how he’s mostly adjusted now, but when he was around fourteen, he suffered depression that he currently takes meds for. A lot of it, he suspects, was due to not being seen as someone he “really wanted to be,” and that being seen as a girl instead of a guy seemed so “tragic” in his mind.

Fortunately, he received the support of his parents during his transition. Nic reminisces on how he had a conversation with his mother while playing Jack in the musical, Into the Woods, about hormone therapy.

Lea Salonga issued a statement about her stance on the matter before the interview: “The one duty a parent has is to love their child unconditionally. Full stop. To those who do not have kids, if you think you will not able to love your child if they come out to you and say, ‘Mom, I’m gay. Mom, I’m lesbian. Mom, I’m bisexual. Mom, I’m trans’, if under those conditions, your love will stop, don’t have children.”