Gigi Gorgeous was temporarily detained at Dubai International Airport on Tuesday for being a transgender woman and denied entry.
The 24-year-old Canadian transgender model who documented her transition on social media was stopped at the immigration and visa office, according to an article on Tuesday by TMZ.
The actress said an immigration officer said to her, 'I was told you are transgender. You cannot come into the country.'
She later posted a photo on Instagram showing herself hugging a companion in an airport concourse and wrote in the caption that she was 'detained and held' for five hours at the airport.
Gigi described the ordeal as 'one of the scariest moments of my entire life' and said she was headed to somewhere 'much more accepting'.
She was born as Gregory Allan Lazzarato and announced she was a transgender woman in December 2013.
Before transitioning Gigi ran a makeup tutorial since 2008 on YouTube as Greg and after her transition she started to include more fashion and lifestyle videos.
Gigi in September 2015 was featured in Kylie Jenner's app and they filmed several videos together offering make up tips.
She legally had her name changed in March 2014 to Gigi Loren Lazzarato.
Dubai airport police, however, said her passport identified her as male and the passport photo showed Gigi as a man.
Gigi denied the assertion by airport police.
Her YouTube channel has nearly 290 million views and more than 2.3 million subscribers.
Gigi also was on Project Runway All Stars in 2013 and also was a presenter at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards.
A documentary about her transition was expected to premiere later this year on the subscription service YouTube Red.
By Paul Chavez
