LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: One of the most well-known personalities to come out of 'Jeopardy!', Amy Schneider has recently released her memoir. 'In the Form of a Question: The Joys and Rewards of a Curious Life' follows her journey to and through the most popular game show and what all it meant for her, especially as a trans woman.
The 'Jeopardy!' champion appeared on 'The View' to discuss her book and how she was able to overcome the struggles of being one of the few known trans personalities on TV.
Amy Schneider on being transparent
'The View' host Whoopi Goldberg asked the 'Jeopardy!' winner how she managed to keep her memoir so candid and quite removed from the narrowed-down personality she was able to show on the game show.
"I have always just kind of been an open, transparent person," Schneider noted. "And when I became famous, all of these things, I didn't want to keep them a secret because then I had to worry about them coming out."
Her memoir goes into great detail about her personal life and the ups and downs she has faced, quite unlike the perfect image that has been created from her 40 consecutive 'Jeopardy!' wins.
"A bigger part of it was I became, to a lot of people, the first trans person that they got to know on television," Schneider went on to add. "And I was hearing that from so many people. I felt responsibility to give the full portrait of myself and not just what fits the 10-second anecdote on 'Jeopardy!'. To really tell my complete story and show that I'm a full person."
Amy Schneider was scared to appear on 'Jeopardy!' after coming out as trans
Schneider is known for being an applicant to appear on 'Jeopardy!' for over 15 years before she finally got a chance to participate in the real competition. But she shared how she had almost given up around the time when she came out as trans.
"When I came out as trans, I stopped for a year or two because it seemed so dangerous at the time," Schneider said. "Even when I did decide to go back, I made the decision [thinking] 'This is my life long dream, I'm not going to let people take that away from me.'"
Schneider also admitted that while she got mixed public responses, her supporters made her journey easier.
"There was some apprehension there because I have seen what can happen when trans people become a target. Not that nothing like that happened to me, not that nothing was said. But the overwhelming reaction has been so positive that it's been easy to ignore the negative," she added.
