Rumours are swirling that Grimes has been dating famous whistle-blower Chelsea Manning since her recent split from Elon Musk . Oh, and all of this just a week after the singer revealed that she and Musk recently welcomed a newborn baby via surrogate . According to media reports, Grimes and Manning have now become “serious” and may even be living together at Grimes’ home in Texas where she is currently raising her two children with Musk. Eagled eyed Grimes watchers will also have noticed the two interacting more frequently on Twitter in recent months, with a handful of cryptic tweets hinting at an in-person relationship. But who exactly is Manning, and why is she so controversial? She was forced to hide her real identity while serving in the US Army The 34-year-old Manning said she knew she was “different” as early as the age of five, recalling how fond she was of spending time in her sister’s room back then. Where is Inventing Anna’s Anna Sorokin now – and is she finally broke? “I really admired her and wore her clothes to play in, played with her dolls, played with her make-up,” she told Cosmopolitan . However, growing up and thinking that “something was wrong”, Manning said she was afraid to tell anyone because she was “terrified about what would happen if someone found out”. In 2007, Manning decided to join the US army because she reportedly saw it as a stepping stone to university, telling friends at the time that the army’s attitude towards gay people wasn’t going to put her off, according to The Guardian . She was also later reported to have told a supervisor that she had hoped being in such a masculine environment would help her resolve her gender identity issues. Still, the soldier felt she had to keep her true identity secret due to the US Army’s rules about transgender people serving in the military at the time. “We’re banned from serving our country in the armed services unless we serve as trans people in secret, as I did,” she told The Guardian in an essay in 2014. Since 2021, and in part thanks to Manning’s campaigning, transgender individuals are now expressly permitted to serve openly. She risked everything by leaking classified documents “to show the true cost of war” While serving as an army intelligence analyst in Iraq, Manning sent over 700,000 highly confidential documents to WikiLeaks, something she said she hoped would spark a debate about the US’ actions overseas. The leaked documents included battlefield reports, evidence of civilian deaths and American diplomatic correspondence. She was arrested in 2010. “My intention was to draw attention to this … and do the right thing,” she later said in an interview with ABC News. 4 ways Kylie Jenner loves spoiling her daughter Stormi “There were two worlds,” she explained to The New York Times . “The world in America, and the world I was seeing [in Iraq]. I wanted people to see what I was seeing.” Manning was subsequently sentenced to 35 years in prison, the longest punishment for a leak conviction in US history. She became the first American to undergo gender transition in jail Soon after her sentence was announced in 2013, Manning felt liberated to reveal who she really was in a statement, saying: “As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me. I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female.” She also expressed her wish to begin hormone therapy at the Army’s Fort Worth prison as soon as possible. Inside Kim Kardashian’s extravagant US$3.8 million car collection However, her request was initially denied by the government and she filed a lawsuit in 2014. The army’s refusal to let her grow out her hair was the final straw for Manning, as it was part of “constant, deliberate and overzealous administrative scrutiny by prison and military officials” that amounted to “high tech bullying”, she said in a statement in 2016. Manning subsequently went on hunger strike and her lawyers said that she had also attempted suicide. She eventually won her case, making her the first person to receive gender affirming surgical treatment in a US prison. She finally became a free woman in 2017 We celebrate May 2017 Chelsea Manning will be free! Thank you! @xychelsea & all supporters https://t.co/kfEQyi3ePE https://t.co/MvOuT6y30x — Free Chelsea Manning (@FreeChelseaNet) May 4, 2017 In January 2017, Manning was set free after serving seven years of her sentence. Former president Barack Obama approved a White House petition that asked for her commutation and had over 100,000 signatures, saying that her 35-year sentence was “very disproportionate relative to what other leakers have received”. Meet Kate Moss’ half-sister Lottie: the model turned OnlyFans star “I feel very comfortable that justice has been served,” Obama said at a White House press conference afterwards. “Let’s be clear: Chelsea Manning has served a tough prison sentence,” he added. Her new job helps people share information securely online While behind bars, Manning not only fought for her gender rights, but took the opportunity to build up her understanding of cryptography (the study of secure communications techniques), according to Forbes . Identifying the weaknesses in the Tor Network she had used to send files to WikiLeaks, she sketched out a new way to cover the tracks of other internet users sharing sensitive information by using the blockchain. The richest Twilight stars of 2022, net worths ranked: from Rob to Kristen As a result of her deep knowledge of online security and privacy, Manning has since been snapped up by internet wunderkind Harry Halpin for his crypto start-up Nym. “While trusting software with their money is one thing people are learning to do with bitcoin and DeFi, brave whistle-blowers and revolutionaries like Chelsea Manning have to trust software with their lives,” Halpin has said of his decision to hire Manning. “So rather than ‘YOLO’ and launch … we’re working with the best people alive to keep our users safe and secure.” Want more stories like this? Follow STYLE on Facebook , Instagram , YouTube and Twitter . If you are having suicidal thoughts, or you know someone who is, help is available. For Hong Kong, dial +852 2896 0000 for The Samaritans or +852 2382 0000 for Suicide Prevention Services. In the US, call The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on +1 800 273 8255. 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