The cat’s out of the bag, for Bruce Jenner, former Olympian and former star of the famed and wildly popular “Kardashian” series on E!. Tonight, he finally sat down with Diane Sawyer and revealed, “For all intents and purposes, I am a woman.”
In the interview, reported by The New York Times, Jenner went on to say, “People look at me differently. They see this macho male, but this female side is part of me, it’s who I am. I was not genetically born that way, and so now I have all the male parts and all that kind of stuff so in a lot of ways we’re different but we still identify as female.”
Those in the transgender community applaud Jenner for his recent coming out; while others remain skeptical. Nick Adams, who is the director of programs for transgender media at the gay rights organization GLAAD, is thrilled that a transgender celebrity has come forward with his story. “It goes a very long way toward educating people about who we are and the challenges we face.”
Many popular television shows like “TransAmerica” and “Transparent” have brought the subject to light, in recent days in the media; however, Jenner felt that he was unable to come out fully as a transgendered person on the show “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.”
During the interview with Sawyer, Jenner reflected on his time on the show and said that he “had appeared in more than 400 episodes of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” and that “his secret had eaten away at him all that time.”
He went on to say, “The one real true story in the family was the one I was hiding, and nobody knew about it. The one thing that could really make a difference in people’s lives was right here in my soul, and I could not tell that story.”
Now, that he has separated from the show, Jenner feels more comfortable revealing the truth about himself, to the public and his family.
The Huffington Post reports that Jenner’s family has taken the news very well, coming to his support on his decision to transition. Both Brandon and Kylie took to social media to show their support.
