The former Olympic medalist comes out as transgender during the exclusive interview, saying, 'For all intents and purposes I am a woman.'
- Apr 25, 2015
AceShowbiz - Bruce Jenner has finally addressed the long-running speculation about his gender transition, confirming that he's transgender in an interview with Diane Sawyer which aired on Friday, April 24. Sporting a ponytail at the beginning of the interview, he then said, "Shall I take my ponytail out? Yeah, why not, huh? We're talking about all this stuff. Yeah, let's take the damn ponytail out."
"Yes, for all intents and purposes I am a woman," he declared. "People look at me differently. They see you as this 'macho male,' but my heart and my soul and everything I do in life, it is part of me, that female side is part of me. It's who I am. I was not genetically born that way." He added, "My brain is much more female than it is male."
He went on explaining, "As of now, I have all the male parts and all that kind of stuff, so in a lot of ways we're different, OK? But we still identify as female. And that's very hard for Bruce Jenner to say. 'Cause why? I don't want to disappoint people."
Of why he had been quiet until now amidst all wild speculations about his transition, he said while fighting back tears, "I've been thinking about this day forever and what I should do with my life, how do I tell my story. It's been really tough. But here I am, I'm still here. That's the good news."
On his sexual preference, he stressed, "I am not gay. I am, as far as I know, heterosexual. I've never been with a guy." He explained, "There's two different things here. Sexuality is who you personally are attracted to - who turns you on - male or female. But gender identity has to do with who you are as a person and your soul, and who you identify with inside, OK?"
Jenner said he "kind of downplayed it" earlier in his relationship with Kris Jenner. "I feel like in a lot of ways, when you loves somebody, you have a tendency, you don't want to hurt them," he claimed.
Asked if he wore women's clothing, he replied with a laugh, "Not much, I looked terrible." On his ex-wife's reaction to seeing him in women's clothing, he recalled, "She didn't say much. 'OK, you gonna change now?' "
Jenner went on revealing that Kanye West helped Kim Kardashian accept him as transgender. The father of Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner shared the advice that Kanye gave to his wife, "I can be the most successful person in the world...I can be married to the most beautiful woman in the world, which I am...but I'm nothing if I can't be me...if I can't be true to myself."
