On Friday, during his highly anticipated interview with Diane Sawyer on 20/20, Bruce Jenner revealed that he identifies as a woman. It was a majorly emotional moment — Jenner confirmed the long-standing rumors from the get-go, saying, "Yes, for all intents and purposes, I am a woman. People look at me differently. They see me as this macho male. But my heart and my soul and everything that I do in life, it is part of me. That female side is part of me. It is who I am." As the interview continued, Sawyer discussed Jenner's struggle with gender identity throughout his life, as well as how Jenner revealed his gender identification to his family — including his ex-wives, his children, and his step-children, the Kardashians.
While he disclosed how all of his children reacted — and claimed that Khloé took the news the hardest — he said that Kim was the first of his step-daughters whom he revealed his gender identity to, after she discovered him wearing female clothing years ago. "I said, 'OK, I’m so tired of lying to everybody.' I told her all my issues, what I’m dealing with, this and that. And then after it was over with, I felt much better," he said. "But, when I brought the subject up again, I said, 'Are you, like, avoiding this? I would understand that.' And she said, 'I always thought it was one of those subjects I couldn’t talk about.'"
Jenner continued that the subject wasn't brought up for a while — until Kim approached him with a revelation that, he claimed she disclosed, came from her husband Kanye West. "They were talking about it, and he says to Kim, 'Look, I can be married to the most beautiful woman in the world, and I am. I can have the most beautiful little daughter in the world, and I have that. But I'm nothing if I can’t be me — if I can’t be true to myself, they don’t mean anything.' And since then, Kimberly has been by far the most accepting, and the easiest to talk to about it."
When asked what the most "interesting" thing Kim had told him about his revelation, Bruce laughed and said, "[She said], Girl, you gotta rock it, baby. You gotta look good. If you're doing this thing, I'm helping ya. You're representing the family. You gotta look really good.'"
It's an emotional and deeply amazing thing to hear, especially as it's clear during the interview that the most important thing to Jenner is the support of his family as he chooses to finally be true to himself and move forward with his life.
So far, Kim has not spoken out publicly since the interview on Friday.
Editors Note: Per Jenner's stated preference, Bustle will continue referring to Jenner using he/his pronouns for the time being. We will follow his lead and make any changes to this policy as needed in the future.
