[bbfan1991]

A Belgian man has been angered after finding out his wife of 19 years was originally born a man.

According to The Daily Telegraph, the 64-year-old man known only as Jan, married Monica, 48, his family's former au pair, in 1993.

Jan states he was oblivious to the secret of his wife, claiming she fooled him by pretending to menstruate and using sanitary towels to "conceal the truth".

The lie began to unravel when, according to Jan, Monica got a new full-time job and began to behave differently; frequenting clubs and hiding messages from men.

Speaking to newspaper Het Nieuwsblad, Jan said; "A friend told me that he had heard that Monica was actually a sex-changed man. I could not believe it. My son heard similar rumours.

"I pushed her against the wall and said, 'Now I know the truth. Are you a man?' She then announced that she was born as a boy and that she had been operated on. She was now a woman, and so she did not need to tell me about her past as a man. My world collapsed. That evening came to blows. The police came."

The father of two is currently receiving psychiatric treatment in the wake of his discovery and has begun proceedings to have the marriage annulled. Monica has also been turned out of her home as a result of the news.

"I feel I've been assaulted," the Belgian told the newspaper.