by Sean Smith
Now that the baby was thriving, her parents could think about marriage. Kanye didn’t disappoint. He met Kris and told her confidentially that he was going to propose. She loved his grandiose plan, and persuaded him to allow them to film the moment for Keeping Up with the Kardashians. He agreed on the basis that nothing would be shown immediately. He intended to make his move on Kim’s thirty-third birthday. Only Kris knew what was really going on. Everyone else in the family was told that he had a big surprise planned for Kim’s birthday and they needed to be at the AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants, on 21 October.
On the night, Kanye led a blindfolded Kim out into the centre of the ballpark. Fireworks lit up the sky and a 50-piece orchestra serenaded her with her favourite Lana Del Rey song, ‘Young and Beautiful’. When he told her to remove the blindfold, he was down on one knee, with the widest smile on his face and his arm outstretched with an engagement ring in his hand. Above, fireworks spelled out ‘Pleeease Marry Meee!’. Kim, who thought it was going to be an extravagant birthday party and genuinely didn’t know what was going to happen, couldn’t conceal her delight, as she shouted yes and took her new fiancé in her arms for a loving kiss. In the rom-com film of their lives, When Yeezy Met Kimmy, this was the perfect ending, without a dry eye in the cinema.
Two people were conspicuously absent from the big night: Lamar Odom and Bruce Jenner. When asked, Lamar would only say that he had something to do. Bruce, however, had quietly split up with Kris and it seemed inappropriate for him to join the celebration.
After becoming a mum, Kim worked hard to lose the 50 pounds she had gained during pregnancy. It paid off, because in December she looked back to her fashionable best at the Hollywood Reporter Women in Entertainment breakfast in a mustard silk dress and coat that matched her newly dyed blonde hairdo. Kanye had always been an advocate of monochrome outfits, using all one colour to create a striking effect.
Now that she was seeing more of him, they were able to confer every day on her outfits. She stopped using a stylist all the time, preferring to share the task with him. If she was going to a shoot, then he would often show up to give his opinion and input some ideas. She said simply, ‘He is my best stylist.’
As a preface to their actual wedding, Kim fulfilled a long-term ambition when she appeared on the front cover of Vogue for the first time at the beginning of May. She said it was a ‘dream come true’. For the shoot, she wore a Lanvin wedding gown, with her engagement ring, another creation by Lorraine Schwartz, prominently displayed. Kanye stood behind her and held her in his arms. Annie Leibovitz, one of the finest and most prestigious photographers in the world, had taken the sort of understated shot that always seems to work best for Kim.
She looked beautiful. Would her own wedding dress look as good later in the month when they married in Florence? Kanye has a great affinity with Europe and he wanted his wedding to be across the Atlantic. He might well have settled in Paris permanently if he had chosen to pursue a career exclusively in fashion.
Their wedding celebrations began on a Wednesday in Paris, at Givenchy, where presumably Kim was having a final fitting for her wedding dress. The next day, she chose a pearl-covered outfit from Balmain couture to pose with her girlfriends in front of the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre Museum. In the evening, her closest female friends joined her for a special dinner. Her mother’s best friend, Shelli Azoff, proposed a toast that gave an emotional insight into the kind of woman Kim is behind the glamour of her celebrity image. Shelli said, ‘I am incredibly proud, and always have been, of who you are as a human being, as a person. I am incredibly proud of how smart you are. I am incredibly proud of how kind you are. I am incredibly proud of where you are today and I love you very much.’ Kim beamed.
On Friday, Kim and Kanye joined their guests for a brunch hosted by the legendary designer Valentino in the gardens of his seventeenth-century Chateau de Wideville, just west of the capital. In the evening, there was a private tour of the Palace of Versailles.
On Saturday, 24 May 2014, they were married in Florence at the sixteenth-century Forte di Belvedere, next to the Boboli Gardens, with views across one of the most beautiful settings in the world. It was perfect. One hundred white doves were released into the sky as they exchanged their vows. As Kim walked down the aisle on the arm of her stepfather, she heard the sound of one of her favourite singers, Andrea Bocelli, singing ‘Ave Maria’. She looked up and, amazingly, he was actually there in person, performing for her at her wedding. He continued with ‘Con te partirò’ during the service. Later, at the reception, John Legend, a good friend of Kanye, sang his soulful ballad ‘All of Me’. Rumours that Beyoncé was going to perform proved to be untrue, as neither she nor Jay Z attended.
Kim couldn’t have looked lovelier. She had three wedding dresses ready, but on the day chose a sublime couture gown by Kanye’s friend Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy. Alison Jane Reid enthused, ‘It was a demure lace and pearl embellished work of art that fitted and flattered her body like a second skin. Most importantly, the dress is flattering from all angles.
‘The dazzling white of the gown gave her a look of extraordinary radiance and contrasted brilliantly with her dark hair and black eyes. For once, Kim didn’t flaunt an ounce of flesh and she looked luminous, elegant, timeless and as regal as a royal bride.’ For many, Kim’s dress outshone Kate Middleton’s Alexander McQueen gown when she married Prince William, simply because it wasn’t as safe and successfully walked the fine line between demure and sexy. Alison Jane explained, ‘The Givenchy gown works because it shows the line of her body, while the flesh stays covered. This is a great fashion conceit – to give tantalising hints at what lies beneath.’
This time the wedding wasn’t filmed for Keeping Up with the Kardashians, although the reality show was there for all the build-up. E! no doubt helped with the bill. Both Bruce and Kris Jenner gave speeches at the dinner afterwards. Bruce wasn’t the centre of attention on this day, but he soon would be.
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Caitlyn
Kim kept the biggest Kardashian family secret for more than a decade. She had arrived home unexpectedly and found her stepfather wearing a dress. Apparently, she was so taken aback that she ignored his efforts to explain, ran straight out of the house and never mentioned what she had witnessed to anyone. She said later that she thought it was something she wasn’t supposed to talk about.
Nobody spoke about Bruce’s gender or cross-dressing issues in the Kardashian or Jenner households. He insisted that when he met Kris he was ‘a good solid B cup’ because of his hormone treatment. She doesn’t agree with his version of events, maintaining that there was nothing obvious, just a hint of man-boob.
The first time the public had an inkling was when Robert Kardashian’s widow, Ellen, revealed that Bruce was a secret cross-dresser in an interview with a tabloid magazine in January 2012. She claimed then that his first wife had confided in her at a drinks party.
Ellen said that Chrystie Crownover, who had remarried and was now called Chrystie Scott, had told her that she discovered what was going on when she returned from a trip and realised he had gone through her clothes. He had even clipped an elastic band to one of her bras, so he could fit into it.
Surprisingly, the revelation didn’t lead to a public clamouring for more information. Perhaps they didn’t believe that the Olympic hero liked to wear female clothing around the house. It seemed so far-fetched, especially as it hadn’t featured in any episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians.
The story said that Kris Jenner had always known about it. The suggestion in the ground-breaking Vanity Fair interview was that she had set some rules, which meant he could only indulge in cross-dressing when he was away from home. She denied this.
A man dressing as woman is largely a subject of comedy in modern culture, with films such as Tootsie and Mrs Doubtfire becoming box office success stories. In the UK, there is a long tradition of hugely popular entertainers, including Dick Emery, Les Dawson and Paul
O’Grady (Lily Savage), relying on cross-dressing to get a laugh. The implication as far as Bruce Jenner was concerned was that, even if it were true, it was just a bit of eccentric fun.
The Jenners’ marriage had been going downhill, practically ever since the cameras invaded their lives. Bruce felt he was being sidelined in his own home, as Kris seized the opportunity to build an empire that left him on the fringes. They argued all the time, seemingly wanting different things from their lives.
Bruce hated the way he had become unimportant. He told Vanity Fair that gender issues weren’t the principal reason for the breakdown of his marriage: ‘Twenty per cent was gender and 80 per cent was the way I was treated.’ Her opinion was that he never fully explained his gender dysphoria until after they were divorced.
The rumours that all was not well had been in circulation for months before the Jenners finally split in June 2013. Bruce stayed in Malibu, where he had always preferred to live. Kris moved back permanently to Hidden Hills and shared the house with Kim, Kanye and baby North.
Bruce and Kris issued a joint statement: ‘We are living separately and are much happier this way. But we will always have much love and respect for each other. Even though we are separated, we will always remain best friends, and, as always, our family will remain our number one priority.’ The statement, which yet again emphasised the importance of family, had the air of something dictated by Kris.
Bruce decided that now was the time to move forward with his gender transformation, although he had no plans to go public with his decision before the divorce had been granted. It’s easy to forget that Bruce and Kris had been married for more than 20 years. In her autobiography, published two years before, in 2011, she had acknowledged Bruce for ‘twenty years of unwavering love, happiness and support’.
While Kris was announcing to the world that they had a ‘pretty fabulous’ relationship after their separation, he was intent on embracing his female identity fully. He made an appointment for a tracheal shave, a common process for transgender women, which reduces the size of the Adam’s apple. A surgeon makes an incision in the throat and slices off part of the cartilage to achieve a more feminine appearance.
Unfortunately, in December 2014, he was seen leaving a consultation in Beverly Hills, and a story appeared online that he was planning the procedure, which is often one of the first steps towards gender reassignment surgery. It was nearly the final straw for Bruce, who had lived a lifetime of agony. He contemplated suicide, using a gun he kept in the house: ‘I’ve been in some dark places.’
A week before Christmas, his divorce from Kris was finalised. There had never been a prenup agreement, so, basically, they each kept their own assets and existing contracts. Both had become extremely rich over the years, although Kris was by far the wealthier of the two, thanks to her business acumen.
She kept the family home in Hidden Hills and agreed to pay Bruce $2.5 million, but no spousal support was involved. Bruce had by now bought a new $3.5 million home in Malibu. They divided up the vehicles. She had the Bentley, a Rolls-Royce Ghost and a Range Rover, while he kept a Porsche Coupe, a Cadillac Escalade and the Harley-Davidson motorcycle that he had always loved.
The appearance of the story about his tracheal shave meant he needed to tell his children his plans as a priority. He was no longer in control of the time frame. He discovered that his four elder children already knew of his struggle with his gender identity. Chrystie had told Burt and Casey 20 years before and they had kept his secret, as so many had in this story, because of their love and regard for him.
Linda didn’t tell Brandon and Brody until after the first stories started to appear about the cross-dressing, but it gave them an insight into their father and to some extent explained why he had found it difficult to maintain a connection with them. That was about to change for his four eldest children. For the first time in many years, they would feel they were genuinely part of their father’s life, as he became the person he had always wanted to be – a woman of poise and grace called Caitlyn Jenner.
The Jenner side of the family readily accepted his frank admission about how he wanted to live his life in the future. His daughter Cassandra, in particular, bonded with her father during a girls’ night at the house in Malibu, when he was finding his feet with female company in a social setting. When he first told her, she asked him what she should call him. He replied, ‘I’m Dad. You can call me Dad.’
After he had told all his children individually, he underwent an exceptionally painful 10-hour procedure called facial feminisation surgery, which involved reconstructing the contours of his face to give him more recognisably female features. He also had breast augmentation.
Bruce decided it would be best to move out from under Kris’s management umbrella, and hired a new team to mastermind his public revelations. A masterful campaign took shape under the watchful guidance of Alan Nierob, a long-standing executive at Rogers & Cowan, who had helped to suppress a story about Bruce’s cross-dressing as far back as the 1980s.
Nierob decided the journalist Buzz Bissinger could have three months’ access for a Vanity Fair article, in which he would reveal Bruce’s new identity for the first time. The accompanying pictures would be taken by Annie Leibovitz.
The world became aware of what was happening to Bruce for the first time in April 2015, during a two-hour 20/20 special with Diane Sawyer, Bruce Jenner: The Interview. It was filmed at his Malibu home and watched by 16.9 million viewers. He told the distinguished broadcaster, ‘To all intents and purposes, I am a woman.’ He also told her that this would be the last interview he would ever give as Bruce Jenner.
The programme was universally praised for handling a difficult issue with humanity and frankness. Diane didn’t avoid asking the questions that needed to be answered for the public to understand what Caitlyn was going through. That included clarifying the issue of his sexuality. He told Diane that he was heterosexual, had never been with a man and wasn’t gay. This was an issue of gender, not sexuality. He understood that it was confusing for some people to understand that sexual orientation and gender identity aren’t the same thing. He said of his own sexuality: ‘Let’s go with asexual for now. I’m going to learn a lot in the next year.’
Bruce also admitted that he had downplayed the extent of his true nature to Kris, and was generous in his appreciation of his third ex-wife: ‘I loved Kris. I had a wonderful life with her. I learned a lot from her.’
The Kardashian side of the family didn’t appear in the broadcast. Their involvement would come later in episodes of their reality show. Bruce did reveal, however, that Kim had been by far ‘the most accepting and easiest to talk to about it’. She had said to him, ‘Girl, you gotta rock it, baby. You gotta look good.’
Up to that point, Bruce hadn’t got on particularly well with Kanye West. They weren’t close. It was the superstar, however, who held the most enlightened view in the Kardashian camp. He had an enormous influence on Kim’s ability to accept what was happening and persuade the rest of her family to do the same.
During the Diane Sawyer interview, Bruce spoke about the role Kanye had played. ‘He said 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.”’
Khloé found it most difficult to process the news. Bruce said she had taken it hardest. She had been most obviously affected by the death of her father and seemed the most sensitive of the children.
At times, Bruce was emotional and a little tearful as he explained that his brain was much more female than male. That was where his soul was, and what he had tried to explain to his children. He told Diane, ‘I’m saying goodbye to people’s perception of me and who I am. I’m not saying goodbye to me. Because this has always been me.’
The response to the broadcast, particularly among celebrities, was supportive
and positive. Elton John said, ‘It’s an incredibly brave thing to do, especially when you’re older.’ Lena Dunham observed, ‘I think it’s an incredibly powerful and brave move to disclose anything about your gender identity or sexuality in such a judgemental society. The interview is going to mean a lot to a lot of young people.’
His family tweeted their love and support. Kim used the hashtag ‘ProudDaughter’ and wrote in Kanye-like terms: ‘Love is the courage to live the truest, best version of yourself. Bruce is love. I love you, Bruce.’ Kris Jenner said, ‘Not only was I able to call him my husband for 25 years and father of my children, I am now able to call him my hero.’ The most touching reaction came from Rob Kardashian: ‘You have always been a role model to me and now more than ever, I look up to you. LOVE YOU!!!!’
The one voice that jarred with the prevailing mood belonged to Kris Humphries, who tweeted, ‘Man, I’m glad I got out when I did.’ After a night’s sleep, Kris hastily apologised for his ill-considered remark, which proved an interesting contrast with the attitude of Kanye, the man who replaced him.
Another two months would pass before the Vanity Fair issues hit the news-stands, revealing that Bruce was no more. ‘Call me Caitlyn’ proclaimed the cover, which featured her wearing a one-piece white swimsuit. The picture, a throwback to old-style Hollywood glamour, is already an iconic image. Caitlyn looked astonishing for a woman of 65, an age when you normally collect your pension and a free bus pass.
It hadn’t been easy for Caitlyn to choose her new name. She considered both Heather and Cathy, before settling on a name she had felt an affinity with since childhood. It would have been unbearably twee to have spelt it with a K and, in any case, the choice was made more complicated by the fact that her son Brody’s girlfriend was the blogger Kaitlynn Carter.
