Bruce Jenner has been in the spotlight most of his life.

To adults, he is a well known athlete who won gold medals at the 1975 Pan America Games in Mexico City and the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. But to teens he is best known for being the dad on E! reality television show, “Keeping Up With The Kardashians.”

For the past several months, there have been speculations of Jenner’s altering appearance. He had grown out his hair and was wearing it about shoulder length and there were rumors circulating of possible plastic surgeries. When news got out that Jenner underwent a tracheal shave, a surgery meant to reduce the size of the adam’s apple, the media began to publish stories about Jenner’s desire to be a woman.

Jenner did not formally speak out until recently, when he sat down with Diane Sawyer. Bruce Jenner: The Interview aired Friday night on ABC, racking up over 17 million views. In the two-hour interview, Jenner recalls moments from his childhood all the way up until his split from wife Kris Jenner earlier this year. He reveals that he had always struggled with his gender identity since a very young age and even as a little boy he would wear his mom’s clothes.

Everyone’s biggest question: Why now? Bruce is a 65 year-old with three ex-wives and six biological children, not to mention the four Kardashians whom he has raised for over 25 years.

Jenner tells Sawyer that there was never a good time to tell everyone. He had always been seen as a masculine athlete and before he knew it he had had three wives and six  children.

Even though he is older, Jenner says over the years he has always identified as woman, just in secrecy. He had even been taking hormones most of his adult life. He had only stopped before his last two children, Kendall and Kylie were born. Now they are 19 and 17 and Jenner has been back on hormones for the last year.

Jenner says all three of his wives were aware of his gender identity issues and all of them were supportive.

His first two wives, Chrystie Scott and Linda Thompson, gave statements wishing him well and congratulating him on his bravery. Last wife Kris Jenner declined to comment.

Jenner made it a point to tell Diane that gender identity and sexual orientation are two totally different things. He wanted people to know that just because he wants to be a woman and is attracted to women too he is not gay. He described gender identity as “who you go to bed as” and sexual orientation as “who you go to bed with.”

He says until he makes a full transition he want to be called Bruce and for people to use to proper male pronouns when referring to him.

Jenner says gender reassignment surgery, if done at all, will be done a long way down the road and it will on the low so no one outside of his family will ever know about it.

Personally, I think Jenner is very courageous for his actions. As if transgenders don’t already get enough slander and hate, add fame on top of that and I could see how tough it could be to truly be yourself. If you watch “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” or any of the spinoffs from the show, you would see how reserved and soft spoken Jenner always was. He did not like conflict, and for the most part did as he was told to appease his family’s concerns. It is amazing that he is finally doing something for himself, despite his family not asking him to speak out.

Likewise, Jenner’s fame in all of this actually has a positive. He is able to speak out about transgenders in a way that a non-celebrity would never be able to. He can reach millions of people and dispel ignorance when it comes to what transgender is and how people handle it. He is now one of the faces of the transgender community for being who he is, much like Chaz Bono (daughter of pop icon Cher), supermodel Isis King and actress Alexis Arquette.

by DESIREE STONE