'Matrix' director Lilly Wachowski announces she is transgender

Lilly Wachowski, co-director of the blockbuster Matrix trilogy, came out as transgender in a statement issued Tuesday. Her sibling, Lana Wachowski, came out as trans in 2010.

Writing in the Windy City Times, Lilly said she had not been planning to come out publicly but did so when British tabloid The Daily Mail told the director it intended to run a story about her transition.

In the lengthy statement, she expresses gratitude to her sister, wife, friends and family, to whom she had already come out. She also speaks to the hurdles facing the transgender community.

"Being transgender is not easy," she writes. "When you're transgender you have to face the hard reality of living the rest of your life in a world that is openly hostile to you."

In a statement on its website, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) commends Wachowski "for taking this brave step forward and condemns the outlets that attempt to threaten those on their personal journey to living openly and authentically." Mashable was aware of Wachowski's transition before the Windy City Times story but awaited her decision to come out.

A Daily Mail spokesperson rejected the suggestion that one of their reporters had tried to intimidate Wachowski. "Dailymail.com categorically denies that it in any way tried to coerce Lilly Wachowski into revealing her gender transition," the emailed statement reads. "We were only interested in reporting the story if and when she was happy for us to do so and with her cooperation."

Lana Wachowski, Lilly's sister, received HRC's Visibility award in 2012. In an acceptance speech, Lana speaks candidly about struggling with gender identity and contemplating suicide.

"Years later I find the courage to admit that I am transgender and that this does not mean that I am unloveable," Lana says in the speech, embedded below.