When Jacqueline Centeno first met her husband, Andrew, back in 2010, it felt like love at first sight. There was an ‘instant’ connection and an undeniable attraction between them.
The two, who are based in Los Angeles, California, started dating soon after, married in 2013 and welcomed two children together. Everything seemed perfect.
But as time went on, their relationship became fractured. By January 2022, Jacqueline, 34, said Andrew, 35, had become ’emotionally distant’ – their sex life was dismal and they felt completely ‘disconnected’ from one another.
What she didn’t know was that the reason for their divide was that her partner of over a decade was keeping a massive secret: Andrew was transgender.
Andrew ultimately told Jacqueline, transitioned and now goes by Anni. The news turned Jacqueline’s world upside down, and while she initially tried to stick by her partner of over a decade during the transition, watching the man she loved become a woman was ultimately too much for her to bare.
While speaking exclusively with the Daily Mail, Anni explained there were ‘signs’ she was transgender from a young age, but she forced herself to ignore them.
‘I always felt different, but I didn’t have the language or understanding to explain why,’ she said.
‘Around age 12, I found myself really admiring women, not because I found them attractive, but because there was something deeper I couldn’t quite make sense of. I would watch movies or TV shows and be drawn to the female characters. I genuinely didn’t know if I wanted to be with them, or if part of me wanted to be them.
Jacqueline and Anni Centeno with their two children before Anni’s transition. Jacqueline was completely shocked when her husband, then called Andrew, came out as transgender after ten years of marriage
Anni and Jacqueline at a friend’s wedding in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The couple stayed together for years after Anni came out as transgender but recently decided to get a divorce
‘But instead of exploring it, I convinced myself those were just strange thoughts I needed to ignore. I told myself I was overthinking, that I just needed to be ‘normal,’ and I pushed those feelings as far down as I could.’
She and Jacqueline met while they were both working at the same restaurant.
‘The moment she walked through the doors, I genuinely felt like an angel had entered the building,’ Anni recalled. ‘There was definitely an instant connection and attraction.’
They officially started dating in May 2011 and wed in November 2013. They welcomed their daughter in 2012 and their son in 2017.
‘From the outside, everything looked like the life I was supposed to want,’ Anni said. ‘However, internally, I was struggling in ways I didn’t fully understand.
‘I wasn’t happy with myself, and because of that, I wasn’t always the partner Jackie deserved. My unresolved feelings created emotional distance, and over time, that deeply impacted our relationship.’
Anni said they had a ‘really healthy and fulfilling’ sex life during the first five years they were together.
‘But our intimacy gradually started to suffer as I struggled more deeply with gender dysphoria,’ she explained.
‘I didn’t recognize it for what it was, I just knew something felt profoundly wrong. I felt uncomfortable in my own body, disconnected from myself and emotionally lost in a way I couldn’t explain.’
Jacqueline said that before Anni came out, their relationship had become fractured and ’emotionally distant,’ and that their sex life was dismal
Anni said she started therapy in January 2022, which forced her to finally face the feelings she had spent years ‘burying’ and trying to ‘suppress.’ That’s when she realized she was transgender.
She said it was ‘both liberating and terrifying.’ Anni knew she would have to make a serious choice: continue to suppress her feelings and live in agony, or tell her wife that she wanted to transition and embrace her true self. She chose the latter.
When Anni broke the news to Jacqueline, it was a ‘complete shock.’
‘I would have never imagined that my partner was struggling with their gender identity,’ Jacqueline admitted.
‘When she told me, it truly came as a complete surprise. It was one of those moments where your entire world feels like it shifts in an instant.
‘It was incredibly hard to hear, not because [it made me] stop loving her, but because I didn’t fully understand what it all meant in that moment.’
While Anni feared that it would be the end of their marriage, Jacqueline had no plans to leave her.
‘Anni was my very first love, the person I had built my entire life with, so my immediate response was… “OK, we’ll figure this out,”‘ Jacqueline said.
‘I still loved her deeply, that hadn’t changed. Did I have fears? Absolutely. Did I feel shocked? Completely. But despite all of that, leaving wasn’t my first thought.
‘We had built a family together, created memories, supported each other’s dreams and growing my career. So when she came out to me, the love I had for her didn’t just disappear.’
However, Anni’s transition was ‘incredibly difficult’ for Jacqueline.
The couple both said Anni’s transition was ‘incredibly difficult’ for each of them, especially for Jacqueline, who struggled with watching the man she loved for over a decade become a woman
Jacqueline explained that while Anni was excited to ‘finally become her authentic self’ and wanted the changes to happen ‘quickly,’ Jacqueline felt she needed time to ‘grieve the life and version of their relationship she had always known.’
And on a physical level, seeing her former husband’s transition came with its own set of hardships.
‘I don’t think I fully realized just how much I had been physically attracted to the version of Anni I had known for over a decade until those outward changes started happening,’ Jacqueline admitted.
‘Seeing someone you’ve loved in one form for so long begin to look different is an emotional experience that’s hard to fully put into words.’
But the hardest part of it all was breaking the news to their kids, who were age nine and two at the time.
‘[Our nine-year-old daughter] was shocked, confused and very honest about needing time to understand what we had just shared,’ Anni said. ‘At one point, she expressed that she almost didn’t recognize the person sitting in front of her anymore, and hearing that was absolutely heartbreaking.
‘Thankfully, kids are incredibly resilient. And with time, love, open conversations and patience, we’ve been able to navigate that journey together as a family.’
Towards the end of 2025, three years after Anni came out to Jacqueline, they decided they were ‘better suited as best friends rather than romantic partners.’
‘Our intimacy and connection had changed so much that, over time, we realized we were functioning better as close friends and co-parents rather than as spouses,’ Anni shared.
They’re now in the process of finalizing their divorce. They still live together and plan to remain in one house for the sake of their children, who they will co-parent as best friends.
‘It’s been a really positive experience for our family. While our relationship has evolved, the love, respect and teamwork between us as parents has remained incredibly strong,’ Anni concluded.
