Chester Bennington’s child Draven Bennington announced she is transgender and began transitioning last year.
In honor of Valentine’s Day Friday, the 22-year-old shared a note about her new chapter on Instagram to “show some love to myself.”
“For a long time, I tried to be someone, someone I truly wasn’t on the inside,” Draven, who now goes by she/her pronouns, wrote.
“Ignoring it worked for a while, but continuously coming to the crossroads of being happy or being complacent was one I couldn’t keep choosing,” she added.
Draven said she “decided to take the path of happiness and being true to myself” in August 2024 by starting hormone replacement therapy.
“It has been the best decision I’ve ever made in my life,” the artist continued, noting that she has received so much support from her friends and family, including her mom, Samantha Bennington.
“I love each and every one of you who have shown me nothing but love and respect and see me for who I truly am,” she wrote.
“With all the support and love I’ve received, I’ve built the strength to love myself. This is why I’m choosing to no longer hide who I am. Love is love. Happy Valentine’s Day.”
Chester welcomed Draven with Samantha in April 2002. The Linkin Park lead singer was also a dad to five other children with different women.
The “In the End” crooner died by suicide in July 2017. He was 41.
In June 2022, Draven took to Instagram to post a sweet throwback photo of herself with her late dad in honor of Father’s Day.
“Happy Fathers Day!!!! Miss you and love you so much Dad!!!!” she captioned the post of them standing together with a painting.
“In this picture we painted this canvas together for charity to fight the war against cancer. It was so much fun to do, we spent 3 days painting back to back to finish it up,” she added.
“I definitely wasn’t as patient with paint back then and drove him crazy asking if it was dry yet. Love you so much!!!”
