Stars In Their Eyes finalist "Cindy of Samoa" is 1.8m of strapping fa'afafine - but she's all woman to her partner, bicycle mechanic Kerry Todd.
"That's all I see," Kerry told Sunday News about his star entertainer partner.
"I hadn't been around a person that was so vibrant in a long time.
"I was attracted to Cindy because she's easygoing and the good conversation and it's far superior to physical attributes."
Cindy Filo caused a stir on the hit TV One talent show when she blasted out '60s hit Proud Mary - her legs as well as her voice resembling those of alter-ego Tina Turner.
Her sexual status was also quickly picked up on. In Samoan culture, fa'afafine are biological men who in childhood choose female gender roles.
But Cindy, 38, said her Christian family found it hard to accept her sexuality when she grew up in the Pacific island.
"Life was difficult for me in the family because they did not approve of how I came out and how I was.
"They were always trying to change me but I was just different," said Cindy, who became a household name there with risque cabaret act The Cindy Show.
"It took a while for them to accept me for who I am but they did in the end.
"They could see I was successful and I was doing well with what I do and I was contributing to the family as well."
When her mum died in 1991 she raised her two younger brothers, put them through school and paid for their marriages.
"They're more like kids to me than brothers," she said.
Cindy moved to Auckland in 2002, and met Kerry, 34, through a friend.
"We clicked and we've been together ever since," she said.
Cindy, who now works as a Tina Turner and Whitney Houston impersonator and is a regular on karaoke night at Family Bar on Auckland's K' Rd, is one of nine contestants in Tuesday's final of Stars In Their Eyes.
She is planning a holiday in Samoa with Kerry but is also hoping to travel to Las Vegas as the TV talent show's prize winner.
*Stars In Their Eyes, TV One, Tuesday, 8.30pm
See Also
