Bruce Jenner confirms to Diane Saywer that he’s transgender
“For all intents and purposes, I’m a woman.”
— Bruce Jenner, officially announcing to Diane Sawyer (and the world) that he’s transgender during a two-hour ABC special Friday night. “People look at me differently,” the 65-year-old former Olympian said. “They see you 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. That’s who I am.” Jenner will spend the next year transitioning.
Jenner told Sawyer his “brain is much more female than it is male. It’s hard for people to understand that, but that’s what my soul is.” He also noted that he would like to work with the transgender community “to get this message out. They know a lot more than I know,” but cautioned, “I am not a spokesman for the community.”
E! confirmed that it will air an eight-part, one-hour reality series, premiering Sunday, July 26, about Jenner’s life as a woman. A title has not yet been announced. Jenner strongly debunked the question that he was simply staging a publicity stunt for the new show. “Diane, do you have any idea what I’ve been going through all my life?” he said, adding, “What I’m doing is going to do some good.”
Sawyer gently broached the topic of sex, and whether or not Jenner’s next relationship would be with a woman or a man. “I don’t — let’s go with asexual,” Jenner said. “I’m going to learn a lot in the next year.”
Jenner would not yet reveal to Sawyer the name of his female self and claimed that one of his goals as a woman is “to have my nail polish on long enough that it actually chips off.”
Sawyer concluded by asking Jenner if he was saying goodbye to something.
“I’m saying goodbye to peoples’ perception of me and who I am,” he said. “I’m not saying goodbye to me. This has always been me.” He asked that people remain open-minded. “Have an open mind and an open heart. I’m not this bad person. I’m just doing what I have to do.”
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