Kim Kardashian mystified but supports Bruce Jenner '100%'
Why was Bruce Jenner born with the "soul of a woman" in a male body? Kim Kardashian says she doesn't fully understand that but she supports him "100%" in his plan to transition to a woman soon.
Anyway, she said Monday on Today, she doesn't have to understand to back her stepfather.
"It's not something that you or I could fully understand, but I don't even think we have to," she told Matt Lauer.
She said she and the whole Kardashian-Jenner TV tribe are behind him, even as they adjust to the changes Jenner is and will be undergoing. It's "a daily process," she said.
Still, by going public Friday night with Diane Sawyer on ABC's 20/20 — which attracted nearly 17 million viewers — Jenner has found "inner peace and just pure happiness," she said.
"I don't know what life would be like if you always felt like you weren't yourself," Kardashian said. "As long as he is happy, and he wants to live his life, however he wants to live it, that just makes me happy. And I support him 100%."
Jenner, 65, said during the interview that he had identified as a female since he was a young child and had lived "a lie" as a male his entire life. But he can't do that anymore so he's taking steps to become a transgender woman. (He asked to be called Bruce and by the male pronoun for now.)
Jenner's acknowledgement of his "journey" on national TV was greeted with widespread support in social media from family, friends, other celebrities and, most especially, other transgender people and advocates for civil rights for trans people.
Jenner told Sawyer that of all his family — three ex-wives, 10 children and stepchildren, seven grandchildren — Kim had been the most accepting and easiest to talk to, largely because her husband, Kanye West, advised her that living true to one's self is crucial for a happy life.
By going on Today, Kardashian threw a bone to her home network, NBC, which owns the E! channel where Keeping Up With the Kardashians has been a winning staple for nearly eight seasons.
Jenner's interview on ABC Friday night was followed almost instantly by E!'s announcement that it would air an eight-episode documentary series with Jenner living as a transgender woman, starting in July. Previously, both Jenner and the network had denied any such series was in the works.
Meanwhile, other members of Jenner's family spoke out Monday in his support, including his three ex-wives.
And ABC continued to milk the interview, airing footage unseen during the two-hour special on Good Morning America.
That included an interview with Jenner's first wife, Chrystie Scott, who was married to him when he won the gold medal for the decathlon at the 1976 Olympics. She was one of the first people who knew his secret, shared during their first year of marriage.
"It was such a shock to me, but he opened up his heart and confessed," Scott said. "(He said) he had to share this deep, dark secret and he told me he always wanted to be a woman and, understandably, I was speechless. I didn't really know what to say.
"I was really pleased that he shared that intimacy with me, that he trusted me with his deepest, darkest secret," she said.
Contributing: The Associated Press
