Liev Schreiber Shares His ‘Profound’ Reaction To Teenage Daughter Kai Coming Out As Transgender

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Alessio AtriaMay 18, 2025, 3:18 pmNews >

Actor Liev Schreiber shared how he reacted to his teenage daughter, Kai Schreiber, whom he shares with his ex-wife, Naomi Watts, coming out as trans.

“Kai was always who Kai is,” Schreiber told Variety. “But I suppose the most profound moment was her asking us to change her pronouns. To be honest with you, it didn’t feel like that big of a deal to me, only because Kai had been so feminine for so long.”

Kai joined her father and his wife, Taylor Neisen, at the Ali Forney Center’s A Place at the Table Gala in New York City.

The center, which offers housing and support for homeless LGBTQ youth, currently serves over 2,200 young people through its 24/7 Drop-In Center and network of 13 emergency and transitional housing sites.

While Kai is not facing the same problems as those seeking help at the center, Schreiber explained why they needed to step up.

“This isn’t just about representing the trans community,” he said. “This is actually a community of people who don’t have great resources, who don’t have access to help, who aren’t being protected and looked after by their families. These are people who are being rejected. These are people who are experiencing the harshest version of humanity that we can offer, and some of them are not surviving it.

“We got to bear that in mind when we go out there and glam ourselves up and get ready to be seen, you know. That’s what we’re doing, actually raising money for a community that desperately needs it.”

He also said that his daughter is embracing her space in the trans community like never before.

“Kai is such a fighter,” Schreiber declared. “It’s important that she goes, ‘Hey, I am trans,’ and ‘Look at me.'”

When asked to offer advice to parents of children coming out as trans, he admitted that he does not “know the answer for [their] kid.”

“I don’t know what it’s like for you to be a trans dad,” he added. “I don’t know how you were brought up. I don’t know what religion you encountered or what your spirituality is. And for me to tell you what I think about my kid feels like an overstep.

“I guess if I would say anything to someone who’s having trouble with their trans teen or their adolescent trans kid it’s ‘Teenagers are a headache. They’re hard.’ It doesn’t matter whether they’re trans or not because you’ll come out of this. But a trans teen is going to be a teen. They’re such a pain so much of the time, and Kai is as feisty and outspoken as they come.”

Despite the political attacks against the trans community, the actor said that he is still hopeful.

“I don’t like to dwell on it too much,” Schreiber mentioned. “To some degree, I feel like I don’t want to overcook that fear or that anxiety. There’s enough in the world to be anxious and afraid about.”