Bruce Jenner comes out as trans: ‘For all intents and purposes, I’m a woman’
Former Olympian Bruce Jenner has come out as transgender in an interview with ABC.
Supermarket tabloids in the US have intensely scrutinised reality star Bruce Jenner’s appearance for months, with InTouch magazine coming under fire for a crudely photoshopped photo of Jenner as a woman in January.
In a pre-recorded interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer, the Keeping up with the Kardashians star, who is a step-parent to Kim Kardashian and her siblings, confirmed that he is transgender. Jenner also requested that for the purposes of the interview, and subsequent media coverage, he would prefer people to use male pronouns and his current name.
The interview – which has been teased for months – saw Jenner finally discuss his gender identity, as he publicly revealed an intention to live as female.
In pre-released clips, he said: “My whole life has been getting me ready for this.”
He added: “I hope I’m going to be okay. I feel like I’m going to be okay. 2015’s going to be quite a ride.”
In the interview, broadcast last night in the United States, Jenner said: “For all intents and purposes, I’m a woman. People look at me differently.”
“I’ve always been confused about my gender identity since I was this big,” he told Diane Sawyer. “Here I am, stuck – and I hate the word – [a] girl stuck in a guy’s body. I hate that terminology.”
Just before coming out in the interview, Jenner symbolically let his hair down, “Let’s take the damn ponytail out.”
Explaining that he is currently undergoing hormone therapy, Jenner explained that he has not yet decided on whether to undergo gender reassignment surgery: “As of now I have all the male parts and all that kind of stuff.”
He added: “My heart and my soul and everything that I do in life, it is part of me, that female side is part of me, that is who I am,” even though “I was not genetically born that way.
“Bruce lives a lie. She is not a lie,” Jenner added.
Diane Sawyer told ABC in advance: “I hope with people talk about this with other people, with families, with friends. There’s so much to think about – not just what he’s going to tell you. I think you’re going to learn about family love.”
Boy George had praised Jenner as “brave” ahead the interview, saying: “I absolutely applaud what he’s doing and I think it’s very brave. And it actually makes me quite emotional. He has my 150 per cent support in every way.
“I think that the whole transgender thing is the new frontier.
“You see people on TV and you feel like you have a relationship with them because they’re in your house, they’re in your living room every day, and you feel close to them.
“I think maybe in that respect, people have been able to get know him and get to know the family.”
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