AFP Published Saturday, August 12, 2017 9:10AM EDT Last Updated Saturday, August 12, 2017 1:23PM EDT<\/p>\n
Transgender soldier Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst jailed for leaking troves of classified information to WikiLeaks, has turned heads by posing in a red one-piece bathing suit for the September issue of Vogue. <\/p>\n
\"Guess this is what freedom looks like,\" Manning said in social media posts that included a picture from the shoot with celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz, showing Manning walking on a beach, her hands in her wet hair. <\/p>\n
\"Chelsea Manning changed the course of history. Now she's focusing on herself,\" says the headline of the fashion magazine's long-form interview with Manning, who has become an icon for transgender activists. <\/p>\n
The photo and the article garnered major attention on social media Friday, eliciting comments both for and against Manning, who will turn 30 in December. <\/p>\n
Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2013 for leaking more than 700,000 classified documents to WikiLeaks three years earlier, when she was known as Bradley. <\/p>\n
She served seven years, and twice tried to take her own life last year alone, before then-president Barack Obama commuted her sentence just days before he left office in January. <\/p>\n
Manning was released from Fort Leavenworth's all-male prison in May. <\/p>\n
During her incarceration, Manning battled for -- and won -- the right to start hormone treatment. She now has cropped blonde hair and a decidedly feminine look. <\/p>\n
For some Americans, she is a hero who paid dearly for leaking embarrassing US diplomatic cables and classified military documents about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. For others, she is a traitor. <\/p>\n
So far, Manning's tweet with the Vogue photo has been retweeted about 3,600 times, and has raked in about 27,000 likes. <\/p>\n
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