Inside Lea Salonga’s Heartfelt Journey: How the Broadway Icon Embraces Her Trans Son Nic’s Identity at 18

• Broadway icon Lea Salonga discusses parenting her 18-year-old son, Nic Chien, in an exclusive interview
• Nic, the only child of the Tony Award-winning actress and her partner Robert Chien, came out as transmasculine at age 14
• Salonga and her son share insights on the kind of support that should exist between LGBTQ+ youth and their parents

For Lea Salonga, her extensive experience in musical theater serves as effective training for motherhood. After decades spent in a “fairly unpredictable, often requiring quick thinking type of art form,” she remarks, “I’ve acquired the skills to raise a child who is an individual.”

At 18, Nic Chien is roughly the same age his mother was when she first achieved fame as an international theatrical star. The Manila native won her Tony Award in 1991 for her breakout performance as Kim in the acclaimed musical Miss Saigon, subsequently providing the singing voices for Jasmine in Aladdin and Mulan in Mulan, and she also made history as Broadway’s first Asian Éponine in Les Misérables.

What was Salonga like in her youth? “I was a relatively composed and reserved teenager,” the star of Stephen Sondheim’s revue performance Old Friends reminisces in this week’s publication. She playfully gestures toward her son. “Nic, not so much.”

While Nic—the sole offspring of Salonga and her entrepreneur husband Robert Chien—might not be experiencing the same whirlwind transition into adulthood as his mother did, his journey has been challenging in its own right: Assigned female at birth, he identified as transmasculine at age 14 and commenced testosterone therapy this January. “I am still figuring it out,” Nic shares as he prepares for a gap year following his graduation from his New York City high school. “It took some time. A lot of tears! A lot of, ‘You need to tell me how you feel’ and a lot of, ‘I don’t know what I’m feeling.’”

When Nic initially revealed his identity to his mother, she playfully speculated whether he might actually be nonbinary—“an appropriate response,” he teasingly tells her. “I share almost everything with my mom.” His family, including his father, has been “very accepting, so I’m not particularly afraid to express myself,” he adds. Salonga “just didn’t want my life to be as difficult as it might have been.”

Nic is fully aware that growing up trans in today’s society presents its own set of challenges. Even with a parent as supportive as Salonga, who has long been an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights since the AIDS crisis affected the theater community, Nic’s transition has been an emotional endeavor. “This was the most ideal scenario for me,” he comments, and yet, “It was tough.”

“Every child that enters this world is unique,” Salonga states. “You must meet your child where they are.”

Parenting comes with its own “expectations,” she continues. “Homework must be completed… I’m thrilled that this child can cook and manage his own laundry and remembers to feed the cat! But truly, the most important lesson I’ve learned is that you have to nurture your child in the manner they need to be nurtured.”

This principle applies to “literally any child,” whether queer or not, Salonga insists. “As a parent, I aim to prepare my child for success. The adults in the room must assist children in feeling safe, strong, and equipped to take on the world on their own terms.”

For Nic, taking on the world on his own terms entails following his mother’s path onstage—and “portraying male characters,” a lifelong aspiration of his, he says. This August, he will take on the role of Jack in an upcoming production of Into the Woods in the Philippines (where the family resides part-time), alongside Salonga as the Witch. Leading up to college, he and his mother will continue to engage in their favorite pastime: watching musicals and discussing them during dinner.

Nic’s advice for other parents of LGBTQ+ children is straightforward: “Just love your kid. And if you don’t, why did you have kids in the first place?”

Regarding potential challenges that may arise as a trans adult, he remains realistic yet optimistic. “Sometimes I feel isolated, but I’m not.” Glancing at his mother, he adds, “It truly helps to have people in your corner.”

Tickets for Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends, in which Salonga stars alongside Bernadette Peters, are currently available.