Carolyn Robertson
posted in CelebritiesMeet Caitlyn Jenner.
One month after Bruce Jenner publicly confirmed that he was transitioning into a woman, the former Olympic decathlete has now bravely introduced herself as Caitlyn on the cover of the June issue of Vanity Fair magazine.
Shot by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz, the image is simple and striking: In it the 65-year-old reality star stares directly into the camera, wearing a corseted bodysuit, her brown hair in long, loose waves. "Call me Caitlyn" is the only caption. Short, but it says it all.
While Caitlyn reveals that she hasn't yet had genital surgery, she has several other procedures, including breast implants and a 10-hour facial feminization surgery.
She admits to having a few panic attacks throughout this transition, but says that she has no regrets.
"If I was lying on my deathbed and I had kept this secret and never ever did anything about it, I would be lying there saying, 'You just blew your entire life,'" Caitlyn, who has kids Burt, 36, Cassandra, 34, Brandon, 33, Brody, 31, Kendall, 19, and Kylie, 17 - as well as step-kids Kourtney, Kim, Khloe and Rob Kardashian - tells Vanity Fair.
"It's not about the fanfare, it's not about people cheering in the stadium, it's not about going down the street and everybody giving you a 'That a boy, Bruce' pat on the back, okay?" she adds. "This is about your life. Bruce always had to tell a lie. He was always living that lie. Every day he always had a secret, from morning til night. Caitlyn doesn't have any secrets. As soon as the Vanity Fair cover comes out, I'm free."
Caitlyn's children have been vocal in their support of her decision to transition into a woman, and several of them took to Twitter today to congratulate her on her official debut: "We were given this life because you were strong enough to live it!" Khloe wrote. "I couldn't be prouder!!! Caitlyn, You are beautiful!" Kendall Tweeted, "be free now pretty bird."
I'll admit that my jaw dropped when I saw this cover today. My first thought: "Wow, he looks really good!" My second: "No, I mean she... She looks really good!"
I'm 100% supportive of people being true to themselves, but it's a complicated business, isn't it? Just writing this has been tricky, taking care to use the right names and pronouns. This is fairly new terrain for me, as I think it is for many people who have been following Caitlyn's transition from afar.
That's why I think it's so admirable that she's being forthright and open about her journey, though I can only imagine how hard it's been to bare her soul, and now her body. So many people, and I include myself in their numbers, will learn from hearing her story.
As a mother, I can't help but relate it all back to my own children. The world they're growing up in already looks a little bit different than the one in which I was raised, and I think that's a wonderful thing. I want my kids to always be true to themselves, to be happy and secure, to know that the choices they make to achieve that will be accepted and embraced.
This is the story of Caitlyn's journey, but I can't help but feel that in some small way we're all on it with her.
What do you think of Caitlyn Jenner's VF cover?
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