Eddie Izzard gives inspiring speech on being transgender as he takes a break from marathon to get his nails done

Eddie Izzard took a break from his epic Sports Relief marathon challenge to give an inspiring speech on being transgender.

The comedian, who has now run 21 out of his 27 consecutive marathons, stopped off to get his nails done on Tuesday and took the opportunity to discuss his gender identity.

Eddie passed the 20 marathon mark on Monday and will reach the place of Mandela’s 18-year imprisonment on Thursday, before finishing on Sunday with an exhausting double marathon to The Union Buildings in Pretoria where Mandela gave his first speech as the first democratically elected president of South Africa.

Izzard, who had raised an incredible £418,393 for Sport Relief by Tuesday, said he channelled Mandela’s positivity into the challenge and hoped to inspire others.

He said: “Twenty marathons, that’s 840 kilometres, about 500 miles, there’s only seven to go!
“What I am trying to do is show that in life you can do positive things and inspire people. He inspired me – and other positive inspirations around the world.

“If I can do this – 27 marathons in 27 days – then other people can say, ‘Hey, well, he’s doing that, I can do something else’, and then we spread the positivity around.”

Before he completes the feat, Izzard also faces scaling Cape Town’s famous Table Mountain on Friday, battling on through blisters, sunstroke and heat exhaustion.

The route each day focuses on a South African area of interest or a place that traces a portion of Mandela’s life story.

The finish line is in sight for Eddie Izzard as he prepares to reach Robben Island on the final leg of his gruelling 27 marathon challenge that pays tribute to Nelson Mandela’s life.

Eddie took some time out & give the most inspirational talk about being transgender & doing something in the world.

In a video, the 54-year-old said: “Being a transgender guy, I do like my nails and they’ve been knocked about a bit so I’m getting my nails re-done.

He continued: “I use it as a badge of identity. I am a transgender guy. I came out 31 years ago.

“I’ve got boy genetics and girl genetics. We’ve got obsessed with it in humanity, we’ve been obsessed with it for 5… 10,000 years of civilisation as we become more and more civilised and people are still being murdered. In Uganda they were trying to sentence people to death.

“It doesn’t matter what sex or sexuality, how you identify or who you fancy – it matters not one whit.

“What do you do in life? What do you create? What do you add to the human existence – that is what matters.

“It all comes back to Nelson Mandela – try and put something into the world, and leave something positive. The confidence that it has given me, coming out 31 years ago in 1985, is immense .

“But it was a very hard journey. Very hard. But I thought it was right to be honest about it, to tell my family, friends and then the world.

“I identify somewhat boy-ish and somewhat girl-ish. I identify both but I fancy women.

“I don’t know why, it’s just the genetic cards I’ve been given and a lot of people have said very nasty things to me, have fought me in the streets but f*** them because this is real and this has always been there.

“Let’s get the truth out rather than running and hiding. I’m not for running and hiding.”

Izzard is attempting to run 27 marathons in as many days across South Africa to raise money for Sports Relief.

The comedian is planning to run over 700 miles during the challenge, with the number of marathons reflecting the number of years that Nelson Mandela spent in prison.