I'm sorry if I misunderstand, are you saying you were forced to present as a woman? If so, I'm sorry that happened to you but it does sound like it worked out for you.

If that wasn't the case, to me it sounds like you were unconsciously aware of your gender but had conscious defense mechanisms that took time to work down.

My experience isn't all that dissimilar, in that I admitted to myself and my therapist that I was "not cisgender", knowing perfectly well that that would definitionally mean I am transgender, but also denied that I was transgender. This was repression, "still cis though" to a higher level. It sounds like your experience was similar.