TORONTO — “Yes. For all intents and purposes I am a woman.”
With that, Bruce Jenner put an end to years of public speculation.
The 65-year-old father of six, and grandfather of seven, opened up to Diane Sawyer in an emotional interview that aired Friday night on 20/20.
“I would say I’ve always been very confused with my gender identity,” Jenner revealed.
READ MORE: Family, celebrities react to Bruce Jenner’s 20/20 interview
“That female side is part of me. It’s who I am. I have all the male parts so in a lot of ways we’re different but we still identify as female. And that’s very hard for Bruce Jenner to say because I don’t want to disappoint people.”
Jenner said he has always had the soul of a female and can’t “live a lie any longer.”
The Olympian-turned-reality-star told Sawyer: “I’m me. I’m a person and this is who I am. I’m not stuck in anybody’s body. It’s just who I am as a human being.
“My brain is much more female than it is male. It’s hard for people to understand that but that’s what my soul is.”
BELOW: Watch Bruce Jenner declare that he is a woman.
Jenner recalled dressing in his sister’s dresses and mother’s scarves when he was a child. He knew he was different but didn’t believe he was gay.
“I never was attracted to the guys,” said Jenner. “Sexuality was totally different than what my issues were. I always felt heterosexual.
“I’m not gay. As far as I know I’m heterosexual. I’ve never been with a guy.” (Jenner told Sawyer he currently considers himself “asexual.”)
From athlete to celebrity
Jenner won a gold medal in the decathlon at the Pan Am Games in 1975 but captured global attention the following summer when he won gold (and set a new world record) at the Summer Olympics in Montreal.
He was named the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year in 1976 and was inducted into the U.S. National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Olympic Hall of Fame in 1986.
Jenner capitalized on his Olympic fame with endorsement deals and by dabbling in television and films.
He appeared in the 1980 flop Can’t Stop the Music, which earned him a Razzie Award nomination as Worst Actor.
Jenner starred in a handful of TV movies before replacing Erik Estrada in six episodes of the police series CHiPs. He had guest roles on series including The Fall Guy, Murder, She Wrote and The Love Boat.
More recently, Jenner showed up in parody film The Hungover Games.
A new generation discovered Jenner in 2007 when Keeping Up with the Kardashians debuted.
“The entire run, I kept thinking to myself, ‘Oh my God … the one real true story in the family was the one I was hiding and nobody knew about it,” he said of the series. “The one thing that could really make a difference in people’s lives was right here in my soul and I could not tell that story.”
Over the years, Jenner dabbled in auto racing and various business ventures including Bruce Jenner Aviation and software company JennerNet.
“I built a nice little life,” Jenner said in the 20/20 interview, which was taped before he was involved in a fatal car accident. “Bruce lives a lie. She is not a lie. I can’t do it anymore.”
BELOW: Scroll through photos of Bruce Jenner over the years.
Family life
Jenner’s marriage to Kris Kardashian officially ended with their divorce last December.
“Honestly, if she had been really good with it and understanding we’d probably still be together,” said Jenner.
Married in 1991, the couple has daughters Kendall and Kylie (Kardashian had four children — Kourtney, Kim, Khloé and Rob — with first husband Robert Kardashian).
Jenner has four other children — Burt and Cassandra with first wife Chrystie Crownover and Brandon and Brody with second wife Linda Thompson.
“Chrystie, probably, would be the first one to know,” Jenner reflected. “I didn’t go heavily into it back then. I said, ‘These are my issues, this is what I deal with. I do a little cross-dressing. It’s going to be fine. We’ll work all that stuff out.’ I had bigger issues than just cross-dressing.”
Jenner said he went through five years of hormone treatments in the 1980s and underwent surgeries on his face as well as electrolysis to remove facial and body hair.
Jenner’s four oldest children have all given him their support. The Kardashian girls, though, have had mixed reactions.
BELOW: Watch Bruce Jenner talk about stepdaughter Kim Kardashian catching him in a dress.
Jenner shared his mother Esther’s reaction to his revelation. “She just said, ‘Oh my gosh, is it my fault? I said, ‘Mom, you didn’t cause this. It’s just the way I am, the way I was born. It’s going to be OK.’”
Facing challenges
Many transgender people suffer discrimination, harassment and violence.
The U.S. National Transgender Discrimination Survey found that 63 per cent of those surveyed said they suffered serious discrimination, including job losses and home evictions.
Acceptance is growing, though, thanks in part to high profile transgender people like actress Laverne Cox, fashion models Ines Rau and Isis King, writer Janet Mock, and performer Alexis Arquette.
Celebrities with transgender children include Cher, R. Kelly, and Warren Beatty and Annette Bening.
READ MORE: Family, celebrities react to Bruce Jenner’s 20/20 interview
Jenner declined to divulge his female name. “If I do, the media would go crazy and I’d never get rid of them,” he said. “I’ve still got a little bit of time.”
He told 20/20 he has been back on hormones for about 18 months but sexual reassignment surgery is “down the line.”
Jenner said his wish is for people to be 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.”
He confessed that he considered suicide just over a year ago. “I thought, I can’t do something like that.
“I want to know how this story ends.”
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