AceShowbiz -

Andrej Pejic publicly comes out as transgender woman. The 22-year-old model has undergone sex reassignment surgery (SRS) and legally changed her name to Andreja Pejic. Now the Serbian-born model will only model women's clothing going forward.

Pejic became a model when she was 17. Famous for her androgynous look, she walked the runway for the likes of Jean Paul Gaultier in both men's and women's fashion shows in the past. She has also appeared on the covers of Elle and French Vogue.

The model opened up that she knew she was different since she was 13. After putting on hold her plan to make transition into becoming a woman due to her modeling career, "about a year and a half ago, I reevaluated things," so she explained.

"I was proud of my gender nonconforming career," Pejic explained in a chat with PEOPLE. "But my biggest dream was to be comfortable in my own body. I have to be true to myself and the career is just going to have to fit around that."

On Facebook, she said to her fans, "I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for the love and support throughout the years. You've all helped me through this journey and I have learned a lot and really come into my own and the response to today's announcement truly overwhelmed me and reminds me of why I chose to do this publicly."

"I think we all evolve as we get older and that's normal but I like to think that my recent transition hasn't made me into a different individual. Same person, no difference at all just a different sex I hope you can all understand that."

"As a transgender woman I hope to show that after transition (a life-saving process) one can be happy and successful in their new chapter without having to alienate their past. Most importantly differences should not equal divisions, let's all stand together in union. #betruebeyou."