Jessica Lange Loves The Caitlyn Jenner Comparisons

There are a lot of reasons to love Jessica Lange. She's an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Emmy-winning actress who continues to push the entertainment industry's expectations when it comes to age, gender, and her own versatility as an actor. When she became linked to the biggest entertainment news story of the day (and likely all of 2015), Lange gave fans a whole new reason to fall in love with her. When Caitlyn Jenner announced her new identity by joining Twitter and releasing stunning images of her new look on the cover of Vanity Fair's July issue, the Internet first responded with overwhelming support. Then, it seemed like almost all of Twitter thought that Caitlyn Jenner resembled another icon, the one and only Jessica Lange. When she heard about the comparison via The Daily Beast, she responded, “That’s so wonderful."

The news came to Lange while she was doing an interview with The Daily Beast. Kevin Fallon reported that she was currently trending on Twitter, and she simply remarked, “What does that mean? You have to explain what that means to me.” After a discussion about what exactly it means to trend on Twitter, the reporter told her why and she was trending she said, “Oh really? That’s so wonderful. Well now I’m going to have to look for that picture.” Lange continued to fixate further on the Twitter bit of the conversation, “Trending on Twitter because Caitlyn Jenner on the cover — you see I don’t do any of this stuff, the Internet... So I have no clue when people use this terminology. I have to repeat it to understand.”

That's what is so darn wonderful about Jessica Lange. She was more concerned about understanding Twitter jargon than being compared to a trans woman — for Lange, it's not only a non-issue, it's a compliment. Her simple, accepting reaction is the kind of behavior we can only hope the rest of the industry will follow in regards to the trans community. She respected Caityln Jenner's identity by immediately regarding her as is, then embracing and celebrating their similar glamour. Here's to Caitlyn Jenner and Jessica Lange for being the progressive, outspoken icons that they are.