Salt Lake City Weekly – Carolyn Campbell
Nicole Cook received the shock of her life the day she visited her mother?s apartment in 1996.
Cook?s father Ken Prince was going through the stages of his second divorce. Making his way through that difficult transition, he?d taken temporary refuge in the apartment of his first wife, also Cook?s mother.
?Your dad is inside, and he is dressed as a woman. He wants to see you,? her mother said with a guarded voice from inside her apartment. Standing just outside the door, Cook wanted to run back to the shelter of her car. Then she saw a vague figure walking toward the door to greet her. Seconds later, she recognized that figure as her father.
?But he wasn?t my father,? Cook remembers. Certainly not the handsome and charismatic Sandy city councilman she recalled, the man who held a prominent place in his community and the man who she was so proud to name as one of her parents. Certainly not the man who sang and played guitar to her classmates.
It felt as if she was in a Twilight Zone episode the first time she saw her father dressed in a woman?s blouse and slacks. His eyes seemed to plead for acceptance.
?It was very sad, and I was upset,? Cook says. ?I had no warning this was going to happen. We all just kind of didn?t know what to do about it.?