Bruce Jenner Confirms Sex Change Rumors

Bruce Jenner confirms to Diane Sawyer that he is transitioning to female.

Bruce Jenner was once hailed as the greatest athlete in the world and later became a reality television star with one of the world’s most famous families. Now, the former Olympian is revealing a secret that has caused him turmoil for decades.

“For all intents and purposes, I’m a woman,” Jenner told ABC’s Diane Sawyer in an exclusive interview that aired Friday in a special two-hour edition of ABC News’ “20/20.”

“People look at me differently. They see you as this macho male, but my heart and my soul and everything that I do in life -- it is part of me,” Jenner, 65, said. “That female side is part of me. That’s who I am.”

In hours of interviews with Sawyer in New York and California, Jenner detailed his internal struggles with being transgender, which he said he has wrestled with since childhood.

During the interview, Jenner referred to himself using male pronouns and ABC News has chosen to follow his lead, though he also referred to himself as “Bruce” and “her.”

“I look at it this way—Bruce always telling a lie. He’s lived a lie his whole life about who he is. And I can’t do that any longer,” Jenner said.

“My brain is much more female than it is male,” he added. “It’s hard for people to understand that, but that’s what my soul is.”

In the late 1950s, during the Eisenhower era, Jenner said he was about 8 or 9 years old when he did something new: put on a dress from his mother’s or sisters’ closet when she was out of the house.

“I marked the closet so when I put it back I could put it all back, everything back in the exact same spot so I wouldn’t get caught,” Jenner said. “And, at the time, I didn’t know why I was doing it besides it just made me feel good.”

Cross dressing became a part of Jenner’s adult life as well. He described trips on the road during his time as a motivational speaker where the anonymity of a hotel room provided an ideal venue for trying to express what he felt within.

“I’d literally go up into the hotel room, change [into women’s] clothes, and walk around,” Jenner said.

For decades, Jenner’s ex-wives and sister kept the secret of his gender identity struggle as the only people who knew. The circle expanded recently when Jenner told his mother and his 10 children. Jenner has six biological children – Burt, Cassandra, Brandon, Brody, Kendall and Kylie -- and four step children -- Kourtney, Kim, Khloe and Rob Kardashian.

“They all cried. Mainly because they didn’t want anybody to hurt dad,” Jenner said. “They are very protective of me.”

Bruce Jenner’s third child Brandon Jenner told Sawyer during the interview with “20/20” that he used to beam with pride when a stranger asked if his dad was the hero champion of the Olympics.

And now?

“I’m just honored and more proud than ever to be a part of the family,” Brandon said.

Bruce Jenner has told his children they can still call him “dad,” but Jenner is not yet sharing the female name he has chosen for himself, joking that the only decision that has been made is that it won’t start with “K.”

“She’s definitely a Jenner,” the Olympian joked.

Jacked from ABC News