Entertainment

Was Kris Aware Of Bruce Jenner's Gender Identity?

During Bruce Jenner's interview with Diane Sawyer tonight, one of the many questions that was on the table was this one: Was Kris Kenner aware of Bruce Jenner's gender identity? According to Jenner, she may have. Recalling their interactions, the reality star said, “I'd been on hormones for five years. Then I was a good 36B something. So you really can't — you can't hide those things." He contined, "And she goes, well, you know, okay, you know, you like to wear women's clothes? And I'm going, well… I kinda downplayed it some. Honestly," Jenner added, "I feel in a lot of ways that when you love somebody, you have a tendency — you don't want to hurt them.”

Jenner did confirm that Kris had seen him dressed in women's clothing; When asked how she responded, he said, “Didn't say much. 'OK, are you going to change now?'” However, Jenner also noted, “Eh, I probably wasn't as good as saying, 'You know, hey, this is really deep down in my soul and I don't know if I can go any farther like this.'”

Although Jenner said the couple didn't go to therapy, they “tried to deal with it on [their] own.” As Jenner put it, “This is not an issue that you just walk away from. It's something that you can't like take two aspirin, get plenty of sleep, and you're going to be just fine. It doesn't work like that.”

However, Jenner remarked that as a couple, they “had all these great years together”:

We did so many memories, 23 years together, raised kids, raised phenomenal, phenomenal children…. I loved Kris. I had a wonderful life with her. I learned a lot from her. That's what you like in a relationship, to be able to learn from the person you're with. I thought we had a pretty good sex life. Later on, as I heard, maybe we didn't, I don't know... but I thought it was pretty good.

He acknowledged that the transition has been “tough on [Kris]” and speculates that she's been “probably a little bit” angry about it; said Jenner, “It's not what she expected." He added, "Kris is a good woman. I've got no complaints with her — she's a good person”; however, there's also this: He said, “If she had been really understanding with it, we would probably still be together.”

ABC reached out to all of Jenner's wives for comment and received responses from both Chrystie Crownover and Linda Thompson; Crownover stated, “I support him and so hope the world can, too. I pray for his happiness for the rest of his journey,” while Thompson said that she hopes people will be ready to “exercise kindness towards those we may perceive as different.” Kris Jenner, however, made no comment.

After Perez Hilton tweeted about the lack of comment, however, a tweet from Kris' official Twitter account stated as follows:

CNN's Brian Stelter followed up on the matter with ABC, and reported the following response:

At the conclusion of the interview, Kris tweeted, "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."

Editor's Note: Per Jenner’s stated preference, Bustle will continue referring to Jenner using he/his pronouns for the time being. We will follow his lead and make any changes to this policy as needed in the future.