A transgender teen who modelled herself on Kim Kardashian says spending almost £15,000 on her new look has finally made her feel like a woman.

Born a boy, Kairah Kelly, 17, felt there was ‘something missing’ until she came out in 2015 and spent thousands to change her appearance.

She has had lip fillers and hair extensions, wears a ‘suffocating’ steel-boned waist trainer for 20 hours a day, and has spent a small fortune on make-up and designer clothes.

But Kairah, of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, says she finally feels free and it has been money well spent, reports the Mirror.

She said: ‘It’s shocking how much I have spent on my new look, but it is so worth it.

‘I feel like the person I was always meant to be.’

Until September 2015, Kairah was known as Tyler, despite spending most of her life struggling with her identity.

Uncomfortable as a boy, she would roam around the family home wearing make-up, nail varnish and heels.

With girls as her closest friends, she was envious of their make-up, long hair and clothes.

Aged 11, she came out as bisexual before revealing she was gay to family and friends two years later.

But that was not enough, and after watching a video about a transgender woman, she realised she was trapped in the wrong body.

Confiding in a friend who helped her break the news to her mum, a trainee nurse, Angela Kelly, now 32.

And in September that year, Tyler published a post on Facebook announcing that he was transgender and changing his name, before going to school the following year as a girl.

And from then, she wasted no time in emulating her female role model, Kim Kardashian.

She has swapped jumpers and tracksuits for skinny jeans, skimpy dresses and colourful tops.

After adding extensions to her long black and now blonde hair and wearing a full face of make-up, she is a dead ringer for Kim.

But since she started modelling herself on the reality star two years ago – whose initials ‘KK’ match her own – Kairah has spent £14,710 on her look.

Funded by advertising and promoting beauty and fashion products on Facebook, she says she feels more confident that she ever has before.

Splashing £800 on hair extensions since 2016, £3,840 on lip fillers, £4,800 on make-up and £5,250 on seven pairs of designer Christian Louboutin shoes as well as £20 on the waist trainer, she says it is all worth it.

She said: ‘I don’t care about the money, I finally feel like my true self.

‘I get my fillers done every four months as my pout is what helps me feel like me.

‘Without them I worry I am going to get found out, that people will know I was born a man.’

Kairah has also worked hard on shrinking her waist from 28 inches down to 22 inches using a waist trainer.

But it has not been easy as Kairah admits wearing the corset-like top for 20 hours a day is not only painful but restrictive too.

She said: ‘I feel like I am being suffocated, but I know it is worth it.

‘I want to have a tiny waist, just like Kim Kardashian and am willing to go through pain to achieve that.

‘I admit I do digitally enhance some of my photos, but they are 80 per cent really me.’

Now, two years after presenting at school as a girl, Kairah will start hormone blockers next month before preparing for gender reassignment surgery in the next two years.

Kairah, who says her breasts have grown from flat-chested to a 32FF because the weight from her middle is redistributed to her upper and lower body by the waist trainer, is also in a relationship with a man she met online.

She smiled: ‘We’ve only been together six weeks but it’s going really well. I told him before we even met up that I am trans, but he was so supportive.

‘I don’t want to give away any more details about him as it is such early days, but I feel really happy.

‘I am finally the true me.’