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Chelsea Manning Shares First Portrait as a Free Woman

xychelsea87
Photo via @xychelsea87

You go girl.

Chelsea Manning has been out of prison for a one day and is already enjoying a beautiful free life. Since yesterday, she's posted four Instagrams on her new account, and naturally pizza, wine, lipstick and Converse all made the cut for her first 24 hours of liberation.

Related | Chelsea Manning Celebrates First Steps of Freedom on Instagram

She'd served 7 years of her 35-year prison sentence at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas after releasing documents to WikiLeaks before receiving a commutation from Barack Obama at the end of his Presidential term. While in prison, Manning came out as transgender and wrote an essay about her difficulties transitioning behind bars.

Now that she's released, Manning can finally show the world her appearance as she prefers after months of seeing mostly computer generated images of her face. In her most recent post, which reveals Manning's updated appearance, the whistleblower proudly declares, "Okay, so here I am everyone!"

She told ABC News, "I appreciate the wonderful support that I have received from so many people across the world over these past years. As I rebuild my life, I remind myself not to relive the past. The past will always affect me and I will keep that in mind while remembering that how it played out is only my starting point, not my final destination."

Take a look at the newly freed Manning, below:

Okay, so here I am everyone!! . . #HelloWorld

A post shared by Chelsea E. Manning (@xychelsea87) on

And here we have Chels toasting to liberty:

Here's to freedom and a new beginning. . . #ChelseaIsFree

A post shared by Chelsea E. Manning (@xychelsea87) on

And let's not forget about Chelsea's relatable pizza moment:

So, im already enjoying my first hot, greasy pizza

A post shared by Chelsea E. Manning (@xychelsea87) on

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