A husband and wife who remarried as two women after one had gender reassignment surgery say their relationship – and sex life – is the best it's ever been.

Insurance worker Cheryl Palmer and former hairdresser Ian Hawkes – now called SueZie – met more than 20 years ago after sparking up a relationship on an online chatroom.

Cheryl, 58, was drawn to SueZie's honesty and humour, while the 55-year-old was love-struck by the blonde beauty's gentle personality.

As their online relationship blossomed, Ian – as she was known back then – decided to make the first of several life-changing decisions.

She waved goodbye to Swindon – the town she'd spent having a miserable childhood and failed first marriage – to fly 4,000 miles to be with single mum Cheryl in Tampa, Florida.

It wouldn't be long before Ian popped the question and the pair said 'I do' in an intimate ceremony in October 2000.

Months later, Cheryl, a farmer's daughter from Michigan, gave birth to their son, who they named Jaison.

But despite how smooth-sailing everything appeared, Ian was facing agonising inner turmoil.

And in 2014, underwent the operation to become SueZie – the woman she knew she was born to be.

"My waking words were 'life's so much simpler now,'" she said.

It marked the end of decades of unhappiness.

Since the aged of five, SueZie had felt every inch a woman.

She had concealed this internal struggle from family, previous girlfriends and her ex-wife. 

It was only under the cover of darkness and behind closed doors, she would slip on a pair of heels, wear lipstick and sleep in lingerie.

But when she reached her 50s, SueZie was at breaking point – and wanted to be the woman she felt inside.

SueZie had always been honest with Cheryl about her gender identity struggle and it was one of the first things they had spoken about back in 1997.

At that time, transgender was not in the dictionary and transition was never considered a realistic option.

However Cheryl didn't realise the extent of her husband's pain and the overwhelming misery SueZie was secretly harbouring.

She had also begun self administering hormones as well as wearing more feminine clothing, including tighter jeans.

Working on a makeup counter was the perfect excuse to apply eyeshadow and other cosmetics.

But it wasn't enough. The physical characteristics contradicted how she felt.

Then a health complication – Peyronie’s disease – was the final straw and SueZie told Cheryl "I can't do this anymore".

SueZie had been constantly tucking her penis between her legs and eventually it took that form.

She said: "It meant if I was ever aroused, it was trying to fight against the curve and it was painful.

"It hampered our sex life because I couldn't associate with it.

"They [doctors] wanted to fix it and they told me what they were going to do, open it and rebuild it.

"I said to Cheryl 'why am I having fixed someone I don't associate with and don't want? How about take this time and transition?'"

This wasn't the first time the subject had been broached and Cheryl had previously expressed her reservations.

She admitted: "Back in 2009 when she first brought it up, I was concerned about my children.

"What are they going to think?' 'What are their friends going to think?' That was the main concern.

"I wasn't very understanding and I felt bad about that. I didn't get it.

"After that I started paying attention to her face and I started seeing all those things before I never really noticed – the sadness in her eyes."

When the topic came up for the second time in 2014, Cheryl's thoughts then turned to the risks of the operation.

"I didn't want to lose her," she said. "But I knew how important it was, so I said 'yeah, let's do it'".

Within weeks, processes were in motion and despite being told it would take years, SueZie said: "Hell no was I waiting two years.

"I said I would be in a female body before the end of the year, that was in April. 22 weeks later I'd had everything done."

When she woke up from the gender reassignment operation she put her hands between her legs and smiled as she realised her penis had gone.

"It was extremely emotional," she said.

"When I came home, laying on my front and not having that sensation down there felt so natural and how it should always have been.

"I always felt like SueZie on the inside." 

The next hurdle was being accepted by her colleagues and strangers as the new – and real – her.

On her first day back at work at the Coca Cola corporate headquarters after the surgery, SueZie went in wearing a dress and had let her hair grow.

She said: "Walking into the office on the first day after the official transition was about as soul destroying you could ever imagine.

"Because certain people think it's a joke. You could see their reactions written all over their faces."

But the most important thing was that Cheryl and SueZie’s love blossomed into a bond and passion neither expected.

SueZie saw Ian as a completely separate person and had wiped out previous memories, including her and Cheryl's wedding day, in a bid to psychologically change herself.

It reached a point where she found it "disturbing" revisiting some of her past which she desperately tried to distance herself from.

This included taking down wedding photos to stop it being a constant reminder of the years SueZie had spent trapped in the wrong body.

"I don't remember a lot about my first marriage," she said, adding she's a lot stronger person now.

"A lot of memories were wiped out. I know I was married and where it was, but there are so many memories that have been totally remapped.

"All the first wedding pictures came down. That was upsetting for Cheryl because it felt like I was throwing out our past.

"For me to see me as SueZie – who I always felt I was on the inside – and help get away from all those male memories that I had, you've got to remap."

So the couple decided to fly to Las Vegas – where they had gone on their honeymoon – and remarry as two females.

They sipped champagne by the pool and the day was everything they imagined it would be. They were joined by their nearest and dearest, including son Jaison.

The 17-year-old, who is about to start military training, has always been accepting of the decision.

"Cheryl cried, I cried," said SueZie, who is a dab hand at sewing and designed her own white mini wedding dress.

"It was very emotional. It was so meaningful to have Cheryl go through the whole thing with two separate people.

"The second marriage really felt like a first marriage for me."

In another touching nod, SueZie's stepmother Lisa Hawkes, an ordained minister, conducted the vow renewal.

They also had their marriage certificate changed to acknowledge them as two females.

In 2016, SueZie returned to her hometown in Wiltshire to see family, friends and ex-partners and "set the record straight" by answering their questions.

While there, she visited the grave of father Maurice, who died in 2004.

But she revealed her sadness at never getting to show him the ‘new her’. Although she believes he would have been a "staunch supporter".

SueZie still indulges in her pastime of motorcycling and can often be seen riding about wearing leathers with a bikini underneath.

In her spare time she bakes the "best bread in the world" and does 'Sizzling with SueZie' cooking videos.

She has also been the subject of a documentary focusing on her transition, and her biography – Desperately Seeking SueZie – is due to be released next year.

She added: "Our relationship has been changed for the better. I'm so much happier.

"I have a much, much better understanding of Cheryl's body. Our sex life is the best it's ever been for both of us. It just works.

"Cheryl never thought she was going to be a lesbian, although she doesn't see herself as one because if she was single she wouldn't go dating girls.

"It's just that she fell in love with SueZie and I fell in love with Cheryl. She always said she married the person, not the appendage.

"If I was single I wouldn't go for a female. With a guy I know exactly what I would do.

"But Cheryl's the trump card because she is the most attractive person there ever is in the world to me."

Cheryl added: "My favourite thing about SueZie is the laughter and light I see in her face.

"Her eyes are now smiling but before they hurt and it's a really great change."

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