Bruce Jenner transgender announcement gets support from celebs
Bruce Jenner sat down with ABC News Anchor Diane Sawyer for a two-hour interview that aired Friday, April 24 at 9 p.m., during a special edition of ABC News' "20/20." Credit: ABC News
Largely congratulatory responses from the entertainment community followed Bruce Jenner's "20/20" interview with Diane Sawyer on Friday, and E! formally confirmed its rumored Jenner reality show.
"Bravo," tweeted Oprah Winfrey after Olympic icon Jenner's revelation that he is transgender and has been on hormone therapy for a year and a half, though he has not undergone sexual-reassignment surgery. "All of us deserve the right to be loved for who we are," the media mogul added, quoting a comment Jenner made.
"That's a profile in courage," tweeted newswoman Maria Shriver, paraphrasing the title of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by her late uncle, President John F. Kennedy. "Now, let's move to less judgmental society. Use compassion."
Jenner, 65, had planned to watch East Coast and West Coast feeds of the television interview three hours apart, TMZ.com said Friday, with the Kardashian side with him for one, and his family from his first two wives, including sons Burt, Brandon and Brody, and daughter Casey -- who are all in their 30s -- watching the other. Us Weekly said Sunday that his stepdaughter Kim Kardashian, 34, visited him for about 90 minutes at his Malibu home on Saturday. She had tweeted a day earlier: "Love is the courage to live the truest, best version of yourself. Bruce is love. I love you Bruce. #ProudDaughter."
Kim Kardashian's mother, Kris Jenner, 59, 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." Their two daughters together were equally praiseful. "So very proud of you, my hero," wrote Kendall Jenner, 19, who added a link to an Instagram image of a questionnaire she'd filled out in fifth grade, where, in answer to who she would be if she could be anyone, she wrote, "my dad." Kylie Jenner, 17, wrote that she "woke up still in awe . . . I've never been more proud of you, Dad!!!!!!"
She seemed to respond to critics by writing, "I don't have the time for people who bring and create so much negativity in their life. I can only pray for them! There's bigger things than that!!!"
One apparent critic said his original tweet was a misunderstanding. Kim Kardashian's ex-husband Kris Humphries had tweeted, "Man, I'm glad I got out when I did. #Gottadoyou," and several hours later clarified, "I have and always will support Bruce hence #Gottadoyou. Now recognize I was too vague and sincerely apologize for the way this came across. #FullySupportBruce."
Jenner's 88-year-old mother, Esther, who appeared briefly on the interview, told "Access Hollywood" on Saturday, "I think that '20/20' and Diane Sawyer did a fabulous job," adding, "I think it was very educational, and I hope to get more education."
E! on Friday said its as-yet untitled, eight-part, hourlong Jenner reality series would premiere July 26.
According to Nielsen ratings, the interview's 16.9 million viewers were the newsmagazine's biggest audience in more than 15 years.
