A woman who has identified as a cat since she was a teenager says her lifestyle has not only brought her closer to her partner, but has also helped her become her 'true self'.
Kat Lyons, 31, first realised she was 'a cat' in high school, and has been into kitten roleplay ever since.
Kat is a model who works at Cat Girl Manor, a residence in Colorado Springs that hosts animal roleplay through BDSM events.
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She met her partner Robrecht Berg, 52, at a Comic Con event eight months ago. They both say they're in a loving relationship, despite the fact they get judged constantly over their unique age-gap, roleplaying set-up.
Kat told The Daily Mail: "I have always been different. I just always had a fascination with cats and I felt myself, I'm a cat. I go through life being a cat - it's just who I am."
She added: "I've always worn cat ears. It started when I was in high school, I don't remember exactly what age I was but it [came from] an anime.
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"I was like, 'Oh, that's cool. I want to be that in real life,' so I just started applying that to my real life. I don't think I started the ears, tail, the collar and all that stuff until later on.
"I was bullied a lot for wearing the ears and just being a nerd. So I kind of kept it a little bit hidden."
Kat decided to fully embrace her kitten alter-ego publicly when she came across the Cat Manor, which was when she realised there were others out there who identified as felines.
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She said: "I just saw other girls doing it, so I felt more comfortable doing it myself."
Rob, an aerospace engineer who also works as an artist and organises annual cosplay events, said that he wasn't shocked about Kat's roleplay.
In fact, he's been completely supportive of his partner's lifestyle choices.
He told the newspaper: "She might have been wearing ears at the time but I didn't notice that.
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"It wasn't until talking to her on Messenger later that I found out that she was more into the kitten side of things and did that regularly since she was a teenager."
Rob continued: "Everyone has something different that they do. I see it as another outlet for a person to enjoy, relax, be themselves and be creative."
Kat mostly takes a submissive role in the relationship, and considers Rob as her 'master'.
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But while they both love how things work for them, Kat admitted not everyone is positive about her kitten play.
She said: "My family and certain people are not accepting and they don't want to know anything about it.
"It's hard but I'm going to be who I am no matter if people are going to be accepting of this lifestyle or not. I'm just going to be who I am."
She added: "I've always felt like I was a cat. When I'm in my kitten mode I'm happy. It's my space.
"Growing up I had to pretend to be normal and not be the cat person, but now I get to be myself.
"I get to express myself - I get to climb, if I want to climb, I can if I want to drink out of a bowl, I can if I want to wear a collar, if I want to wear my ears, I can do it.
"I don't have anybody stopping me saying, 'Okay, well, you need to be normal.'
"Now I can just be myself."
Featured Image Credit: Barcroft/Getty
Topics: News, Dating, Relationships, US News