'I'm going to be Suzy': Eddie Izzard announces new name that 'she has wanted to use since the age of 10'
7 March 2023, 15:58
Eddie Izzard has said that she is now going by 'Suzy', a name that she has wanted since the age of ten.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Speaking on Global's Political Party podcast with fellow comedian Matt Forde, Izzard said she would now be called Suzy Eddie Izzard.
Izzard, who describes herself as 'gender fluid', told Matt she is flexible with her pronouns - and even sometimes makes mistakes herself.
She said: "I prefer to see she/her, I don't mind he/him… I'm Eddie.
"There's another name I'm going to add in as well, which is Suzy, which I wanted to be since I was 10. I'm going to be Suzy Eddie Izzard."
Call Keir: Could Eddie Izzard sit on a Labour all women's shortlist?
Izzard, 61, added: "I’ve wanted to be S, U, Z, Y since I was ten.
"That’s how I’m going to roll, so people can choose what they want, they can’t make a mistake, they can’t go wrong,” she went on, joking that “I make mistakes with my own pronouns.”
Izzard, a long-time Labour member, tried unsuccessfully to be a parliamentary candidate for the party in Sheffield Central last year.
She told Matt she is determined to become an MP, adding: “I will keep going until I get in.”
Eddie Izzard's interview with Natasha Devon
And her sights appear to be set even higher. When asked by Matt if she would give up her comedy and acting career to become a backbencher, she quipped: "Do I have to be backbench?"
On her goal of reaching high government office, she said “I won’t do dates”. Pressed on whether she wanted to be Prime Minister, said “I don’t mind who does the gig.”
Izzard suggested she might be qualified to be Chancellor, telling Matt: “I studied accounting and financial management”. She said that “running a country, you have to balance the whole thing out.”
Her possible candidacy caused some controversy in parts of the parliamentary Labour party, with MP Rosie Duffield saying that she would leave the party if Izzard was included on an all-women shortlist for Sheffield Central.
Asked by LBC's Nick Ferrari in October last year if Izzard could be on an all-women shortlist, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer repeatedly refused to comment.
He said: "I’m not going to discuss individuals. We’ll look at each case as they come up, but I’m not going to discuss individuals on a programme like this."
Listen to The Political Party with Matt Forde on Global Player.
