Charlie & Lee

Charlie Kemp has a secret: For more than 50 years Charlie and Lee were a couple. They met when Lee came home from fighting in the Korean War, at that time Lee was a man. Twenty years into the relationship, Lee received one of the country's earliest sex-change operations. They were married in Las Vegas a year later, and lived the next 30 years as husband and wife. Charlie was a body builder who was crowned Mr. America, twice. Lee was a hairdresser, who always wanted to be a housewife. Theirs isn't a traditional love story -- but it says a lot about companionship and commitment.



Reminders of a love lost are rewound and rewatched as Charlie Kemp plays back old home movies of his wife Lee, filmed just before she passed away.



Copy photo of Lee in Japan 1949. He was in the service from 1946-49. And Charlie found this photo among Lee's stuff. It's one of the few pics left of her as a male, as she burned all the ones she could find.



Copy photo of Lee taken in November 1957, 19 years before his sex-change operation, when he was all dressed up for the hair dresser's ball. "She lived for that night," said Charlie Kemp, Lee's partner. "It was the one time of year she got all dressed up as a woman. But me, I wouldn't be seen dead with all those queens so I always hired someone to go with her as her date."




Wedding picture of Charlie and Lee in Las Vegas, May 13, 1978.



Charlie and Lee lived happily as husband and wife for over 30 years. For the first 20 years of their relationship, Lee was a man.



After finding a gym in Vero Beach that fits into his tight budget, Charlie Kemp - a former Mr. America - still works out as often as his body will allow. After Lee passed away, Charlie lives for his pet bird and working out.