3 Takeaways From Bruce Jenner’s Coming Out Interview
3 Takeaways From Bruce Jenner’s Coming Out Interview
2 minute read
Bruce Jenner attends the 13th annual Michael Jordan Celebrity Invitational gala at the ARIA Resort & Casino at CityCenter on April 4, 2014 in Las Vegas, NV.Ethan Miller—Getty Images
Olympic gold medalist and Keeping Up With the Kardashians personality Bruce Jenner came out as transgender in an interview Friday. It was the culmination of a years’-long tabloid narrative about Jenner’s gender identity, but there were certain aspects that even the most avid followers of celebrity news couldn’t have anticipated.
Jenner is, for now, still using masculine pronouns
It was characterized as “familiar” in the interview, and Bruce declined to use or even mention a potential future name, referring only to a later female self as “her.” As for what Jenner will look like in the future? That was left for another day, though the Olympian has been on hormones for one-and-a-half years (after an interrupted stint taking hormones in the 1980s).
See The Life of Caitlyn Jenner
At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Bruce Jenner won the gold medal in the decathlon, setting the world record at 8,616 points.Getty ImagesJenner became a national hero following his Olympic win and was later inducted into the Olympic Hall of Fame in 1986.Tony Duffy—Getty ImagesJenner became an NBC Sportscaster in the late 1970s following his Olympic performance in Montreal.NBC/Getty ImagesJenner married actress Linda Thompson, above, on Jan. 5, 1981, following his divorce with Chrystie Crownover.Getty ImagesJenner was diagnosed with dyslexia as a child. In October of 1985, he received the Outstanding Learning Disabled Achiever Award from then-First Lady Nancy Reagan alongside stars such as Cher and Tom Cruise.Getty ImagesJenner was a successful race car driver in the 1980s, though in a 2013 interview he said, "I was a lot more badass runner than I was a driver.”Ann Clifford—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesIn 1991, Jenner married Kris Jenner, previously Kris Kardashian, just one month after she finalized her divorce from Robert Kardashian. The two had dated for only five months.Maureen Donaldson—Getty ImagesTheir marriage merged two already large families, evident here in this 1991 portrait.Donaldson Collection/Getty ImagesAfter his sports career, Jenner, seen here at a celebrity golf event in 1993, had a number of small acting jobs and television appearances.Stephen Dunn—Getty ImagesThe family poses at an event in 1995, the year Jenner and Kris welcomed the first of their two children together, Kendall Jenner.Ron Galella—WireImageKylie Jenner was born two years later in 1997. The girls can be seen here on the red carpet in 2000, long before they covered magazines and appeared on TIME's Most Influential Teens list.Scott Nelson—AFP/Getty ImagesJenner, seen here in 2005, would re-enter the spotlight thanks to Keeping Up With the Kardashians, which first premiered in 2007.Steve Granitz—WireImageJenner spoofed his reality-star fame with a commercial for Tropicana Juicy Rewards in 2010.APJenner and Kris, here at The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 2011, announced their separation in 2013. She filed for divorce the following year.Kevin Winter—Getty ImagesJenner poses with a box of Wheaties in 2012. He appeared on the front of the box first in 1977 after his Olympic gold-medal win, then in 2012 when Wheaties rolled out a retro series.Noel Vasquez—Getty ImagesJenner appears with two of his sons, TV personality Brody Jenner and musician Brandon Jenner, who records with his wife as Brandon & Leah, at an April 2013 release party.Chelsea Lauren—WireImageJenner walks with step-daughter Kim Kardashian in October of 2014 — about five months after rapper Kanye West became his son-in-law.Bauer-Griffin—GC ImagesCaitlyn Jenner, formerly Bruce Jenner, appeared as a woman for the first time on the cover of Vanity Fair's June 2015 issue, photographed by Annie Leibovitz.Annie Leibovitz—Vanity FairCaitlyn Jenner accepts the Arthur Ashe Courage Award onstage during The 2015 ESPYS at Microsoft Theater on July 15, 2015 in Los Angeles.Kevin Winter—Getty Images
Kanye West was a major influence
Many of Jenner’s family members expressed support on the record, though Jenner’s most recent ex-wife Kris Jenner did not comment on the record for ABC. (On Twitter, she claimed never to have been asked.) Asked as to which of the Kardashian family had been most accepting of the transition, Jenner named Kim (or, more accurately, “Kimberly”), saying that Kim Kardashian’s husband Kanye West turned Kim’s opinion around. As Jenner characterized West’s opinion:
“I can be married to the most beautiful woman, and I am. I could have the most beautiful daughter, and I have that. But I’m nothing if I can’t be me.”
Jenner, indeed, said that Kim asked him, given his extreme-sports predilections, if he were “a tomboy.” (The answer to this good-natured question was “yes.”)
Jenner is on a mission
Though some Twitter commentators were set ablaze by Jenner’s admission of political conservatism, the core of the message remains undeniable: Jenner is now America’s most famous transgender person. “What I’m doing is going to do some good,” Jenner said, “and we’re going to change the world.” That means raising visibility and awareness for transgender people. But, with a major interview completed, one should not necessarily expect Jenner acting as an activist tomorrow (though the E! network quickly sent out a news release about Jenner’s forthcoming reality series). The star’s personal goals? “I just want to have a free soul,” Jenner said, “and have a lot of great friends.”
Visibility, and acceptance, may just arise from that.
