Bruce 'briefly' took hormones in secret

Published May 20, 2015

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If you thought watching the first part of Bruce Jenner's E! special was raw and honest as he explained his transition to his kids, Part 2 was like sitting on a couple's counseling session.

Though she was barely in Sunday's episode, Bruce's ex-wife Kris Jenner was a major part on Monday night as she and Bruce had a deeply personal, extremely candid conversation about what went wrong in their marriage; the couple divorced last year after 22 years. They both started crying almost immediately as they started the conversation.

Visibly nervous, Bruce had a piece of paper with talking points so he wouldn't forget anything.

"We've raised amazing children and those memories will live inside me forever," said Bruce, who came out to the world as transgender during a Diane Sawyer interview last month. "I just want to get through this and do the best damn job of not hurting anybody. And that includes you."

"I think I'm just so confused right now," Kris said through tears. "I think you cut me out a long time ago."

Kris confirmed what Bruce said in the Diane Sawyer interview — that Bruce told her many years ago that he liked to wear women's clothes and had briefly taken female hormones in the 1980s. But Kris implied that Bruce misled her about the extent of his gender confusion. She also assumed he lied about taking hormones during their marriage. "You never told me, as a married couple, that you were taking hormones," she said.

Bruce explained that he never started taking hormones while they were still together; it wasn't until after they separated and he moved into a new house in Malibu, he started seeing a therapist to work on his gender identity.

Uncomfortably personal topics? Indeed — but that's what the Kardashians do. The couple continued to hash out their issues, as Kris kept repeating how hurt she was that Bruce kept so many secrets. Worst of all, she said, Bruce had bouts of irritability and anger through the years, but refused to confide in her what was going on. As a result, she lashed out. "I turned into the Wicked Witch of the West because of the way you were behaving," she said.

"I have always had these issues and I've never dealt with them," Bruce acknowledged. "But as far as our relationship, I wouldn't go as far as you're going."

For all the tabloids that have chronicled the dissolution of Bruce and Kris's marriage, they got all the material they could ever need as they further explored their problems. It mostly boiled down to Kris' anger and fear that Bruce never confided in her about his gender identity crisis. "I never saw this coming in a gazillion years," Kris said.

"You're the toughest one to talk to out of anybody, OK?" Bruce replied.

"Well, maybe it's because I'm the one you lied to the longest," Kris snapped.

Eventually, Bruce apologized and Kris broke down again. "I just miss Bruce and that's going to take a minute for me to mourn that relationship," she said. "I'm trying so hard to just process my pain and get through my days. It's a struggle."

While Kris gets lots of flack as the frequent villain "momager" of the Kardashian universe, the episode reiterated an increasingly common lesson of the Kardashians: They're actually just human, like the rest of us. Only they're willing to show their most private moments to the world.

Other moments in the special included Bruce explaining more about his physical transition. His daughters continued to ask lots of questions about when Bruce was officially going to transition into "her." Bruce was vague on this point: "You will see me and you will know,"he said.

Later, stepdaughter Kim Kardashian — whom Bruce said has been the easiest to talk to about his transition — paid him a visit to go through his closet and check out his new clothes. At first, she looked on in a bit of disbelief as Bruce got extremely excited talking about the various dresses he liked. But she shook it off and marched into the closet, taking a look at all of his outfits. She was not a fan of some striped dresses.

"I couldn't have a better stylist," Bruce said, smiling.

"If you're keeping some of these pieces, I don't want to be known as your stylist," Kim joked.

Based on this special and the Diane Sawyer interview, scenes like that will likely be the tone of Bruce's upcoming docu-series that airs this summer — semi-serious, semi-funny, but extremely educational to the viewing audience.

Scott Disick (Kourtney Kardashian's longtime partner and father of her three kids) summed this up while talking to Bruce. Even though Kourtney knew for years that her stepdad liked wearing women's clothes, this was all new information to Scott. Though he asked a lot of questions, ultimately, Scott emphasized that Bruce being so public with his transition was for the greater good.

"Bruce is going to open the door for so many people that are finally going to be able to live their life the way they want," Scott told the camera. "I mean, you're talking about the biggest male athlete of our time who was known as the man's man turning into a lady. For anybody who's going through this and thinks it's impossible — well, here it is right in front of your face. It's not."

 

Washington Post-Bloomberg

 

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