Bradley Manning (Getty Images)

WIGGED OUT: Bradley Manning, as “Breanna” (left) and in
uniform, wants to Army to pay for his gender transition. (
)

We’re not paying for your sex change, the Army told Bradley Manning after the convicted WikiLeaker announced yesterday he wants to live as a woman named Chelsea.

“As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me. I am Chelsea Manning. I am female,” the dishonorably discharged private said in a statement released by his lawyer.

Manning dropped the bombshell one day after being sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking 700,000 classified documents.

“Given the way that I feel and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible,” said Manning, who now prefers to be addressed as “she.” His attorney said Manning may also seek sex-reassignment surgery.

The Army quickly replied that it offers inmates access to mental-health professionals, including psychiatrists, and even complied with Manning’s preference for a female pronoun.

But, a spokesman added, “There is no mechanism in place for the US military to provide hormone therapy or gender-reassignment surgery for her.”During his court-martial, it was revealed that Manning sent a photo of himself, in makeup and a blond wig, in an e-mail titled “My Problem” to an Army officer.
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Officials did not say whether Manning would be allowed therapy or surgery paid for by someone else. Hormone replacement can run from $50 to hundreds of dollars a month. Sex-reassignment surgery can cost from $7,000 to upwards of $100,000.

Manning’s lawyer, David Combs, said his client would sue to obtain hormone-replacement therapy and denied this was a ploy to be transferred from Fort Leavenworth, Kan., to a women’s prison.

“I think the ultimate goal is to be comfortable in her skin and to be the person that she’s never had an opportunity to be,” Combs said.

Manning’s sexual-identity crisis was revealed at a pretrial hearing in December when defense attorneys asked witnesses if they knew that the defendant had created an alter ego, “Breanna Manning.”