More from today's Post (photo of Don and Mr. Bear at link):ABC's Don Ennis -- who went from he to she to he -- had bizarre Facebook countdowns and 'rough month'
By TARA PALMERI and Oceander SAUCHELLI
August 6, 2013
Attention-loving ABC News Editor Don Ennis posted a bizarre countdown on his Facebook page just before his change-over to “Dawn Stacey’’ — and clueless pals thought he was planning to commit suicide. In reality, the paunchy, balding father of three was preparing to make his switch from a he to a she.
Now, after three months as a skirt-wearing woman, Ennis has revealed that he’s going back to being a man — but it hasn’t been so easy for him to reverse course, pals told The Post.
“He’s had a rough month,” a colleague said. “He’s having a hard time with it.’’
Before his switch to lipstick and heels in May, “[Ennis] had a countdown on Facebook ... and would write mysterious things like, ‘3 days,’ ‘2 days’ and people didn’t know what it was about. People were writing on his wall, ‘Don’t kill yourself!’ ” another co-worker and longtime friend said.
But it soon became clear that the overnight TV assignment editor, 49, had a gender change in mind — and “Don’’ became auburn-wigged “Dawn.”
Then, last month, Ennis checked into the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, MD, where he were underwent hormone testing to try to figure out what was driving his change, he said.
He documented his stay with photos of himself as Dawn — and his stuffed Teddy bear — on Instagram. Ennis posted snapshots of “Mr. Bear’’ in his hospital bed, writing, “Mr. Bear doesn’t like hospitals but agrees the nurses are cute!”
In one close-up of Ennis as “Dawn” with “Mr. Bear’’ in the background, he writes, “The waiting is the hardest part.’’
As The Post reported yesterday, after the stay, Don announced in a recent letter to colleagues that he tacked to a work bulletin board that he was going back to being “Don.” He claimed that he had had a bout of “transient global amnesia’’ and now felt like the man he once was.
Transgenders ripped into him for the notion.
“We were counting on you to break down the transgender wall but this silly amnesia story, man up and tell the truth,” a transgender commenter wrote on his Facebook wall, according to the friend.
Ennis promised in his note to colleagues that he would remain “a strong straight ally and a supporter of diversity and an advocate for equal rights and other LGBT issues including same sex marriage.”
Ennis’s coworker and pal said he was “really surprised’’ by Ennis’s original switch to a woman — and irked by how he went about it. “He was so, ‘Look at me’ about it,” said the pal. “He made such a huge deal about it. ... He was really outgoing on Facebook about the whole transformation.’’
One former ABC News exec said Ennis’s experience would make good TV material.
“Maybe it will turn into a great medical story for one of the magazine shows,” the source said.
