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Caitlyn Jenner
Caitlyn Jenner Web Summit 2017 (cropped).jpg
Jenner in 2017
Born
William Bruce Jenner

(1949-10-28) October 28, 1949 (age 75)
Other names Caitlyn Marie Jenner
Alma mater Graceland College (BS)
Occupation
  • Media personality
  • athlete
Years active 1970–present
Television
    • Keeping Up with the Kardashians (2007–2021)
    • I Am Cait (2015–2016)
Political party Republican
Spouse(s)
  • Chrystie Crownover
    (m. 1972; div. 1981)
  • Linda Thompson
    (m. 1981; div. 1986)
  • (m. 1991; div. 2015)
Children
Caitlyn Jenner
Sport
Country United States
Sport
Event(s) Decathlon
College team Graceland Yellowjackets
Coached by
  • L. D. Weldon
  • Bert Bonanno
  • Randy Trentman
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
Gold 1976 Montreal Decathlon
Pan American Games
Gold 1975 Mexico City Decathlon

Caitlyn Marie Jenner (born William Bruce Jenner; October 28, 1949; known as Bruce Jenner until 2015) is an American media personality and former Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete.

Jenner played college football for the Graceland Yellowjackets before incurring a knee injury that required surgery. Convinced by Olympic decathlete Jack Parker's coach, L. D. Weldon, to try the decathlon, Jenner had a six-year decathlon career, culminating in winning the men's decathlon event at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, setting a third successive world record and gaining fame as "an all-American hero". Jenner established a career in television, film, writing, auto racing, and business.

Jenner has six children with three successive wives – Chrystie Crownover, Linda Thompson, and Kris Jenner – and from 2007 to 2021 appeared on the reality television series Keeping Up with the Kardashians with Kris, their daughters Kendall and Kylie Jenner, as well as Kris's other children from her previous marriage, Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and Rob Kardashian.

Jenner publicly came out as a trans woman in April 2015, announcing her new name in July of that year. From 2015 to 2016, she starred in the reality television series I Am Cait, which focused on her gender transition. At the time of her coming out, she had been called the most famous trans woman in the world. Jenner is a transgender rights activist, although her views on transgender issues have been criticized by many other LGBTQ+ activists.

A member of the Republican Party, Jenner ran as a replacement candidate in the 2021 California gubernatorial recall election. The recall failed, and she only received one percent of the vote, finishing in 13th place among the candidates running to replace governor Gavin Newsom. Six months after the election, Jenner was hired by Fox News as an on-air contributor.

Early life

Caitlyn Marie Jenner was born on October 28, 1949, in Mount Kisco, New York, as William Bruce Jenner, and was known as Bruce until June 2015. Her parents are Esther Ruth (née McGuire) and William Hugh Jenner, who was an arborist originally from New Brunswick, Canada. She is of English, Scottish, Irish, Dutch, and Welsh descent. Her younger brother, Burt, was killed in a car accident in Canton, Connecticut, on November 30, 1976, shortly after Jenner's success at the Olympic Games. As a child, Jenner was diagnosed with dyslexia.

Jenner attended Sleepy Hollow High School in Sleepy Hollow, New York, for her freshman and sophomore years and Newtown High School in Newtown, Connecticut, for her junior and senior years, graduating in 1968. Jenner earned a football scholarship and attended Graceland College (now Graceland University) in Lamoni, Iowa, but was forced to stop playing football because of a knee injury. Recognizing Jenner's potential, Graceland track coach L. D. Weldon encouraged Jenner to switch to the decathlon. Jenner debuted as a decathlete in 1970 in the Drake Relays decathlon in Des Moines, Iowa, finishing in fifth place. Jenner graduated from Graceland College in 1973 with a degree in physical education.

Decathlon career

Early career

At the 1972 U.S. Olympic Trials at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, Jenner was eleventh after the first day in the men's decathlon, and climbed to fifth behind Steve Gough and Andrew Pettes with one event remaining on the Fourth of July. Needing to make up a 19-second gap on Gough in the 1500 meters, Jenner qualified for the Olympic team by finishing first, 22 seconds ahead of the others. This prompted the Eugene Register-Guard to ask: "Who's Jenner?" Following the trials, Jenner was tenth in the decathlon at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. By watching Soviet Mykola Avilov win the event, Jenner was inspired to start an intense training regimen. "For the first time, I knew what I wanted out of life and that was it, and this guy has it. I literally started training that night at midnight, running through the streets of Munich, Germany, training for the Games. I trained that day on through the 1976 Games, 6–8 hours a day, every day, 365 days a year."

After graduating from Graceland, Jenner married girlfriend Chrystie Crownover and moved to San Jose, California. Crownover provided most of the family income as a flight attendant for United Airlines. Jenner trained during the day and sold insurance at night, earning US$9,000 a year. In the era before professional athletes were allowed to compete in Olympic sports, this kind of training was unheard of. On the other hand, Soviet athletes were state sponsored, which gave them an advantage over amateur American athletes. During this period, Jenner trained at the San Jose City College (SJCC) and San Jose State University (SJSU) tracks. San Jose athletics centered on SJCC coach Bert Bonanno; at that time, the city was a hotbed for training and was called the "Track Capital of the World". Many other aspiring Olympic athletes also trained at San Jose; the list included Millard Hampton, Andre Phillips, John Powell, Mac Wilkins, and Al Feuerbach. Jenner's best events were on day two of the decathlon: hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin, and 1500 meters.

Olympic success

Bruce Jenner discus PanAm 1975
Jenner at the 1975 Pan American Games

Jenner was the American champion in the men's decathlon event in 1974, and was featured on the cover of Track & Field News magazine's August 1974 issue. While on tour in 1975, Jenner won the French national championship, and a gold medal at the 1975 Pan American Games, setting the tournament record with 8,045 points. This was followed by world records of 8,524 points at the U.S.A./U.S.S.R./Poland triangular meet in Eugene, Oregon, on August 9–10, 1975, breaking Avilov's record, and 8,538 points at the 1976 Olympic trials, also in Eugene. The second Eugene record was a hybrid score because of a timing system failure and it was wind aided. Still, Jenner was proud of "A nice little workout, huh?"

We got what we wanted. We scared the hell out of everybody in the world only a month away from the Games.

Of the 13 decathlons Jenner competed in between 1973 and 1976, the only loss was at the 1975 AAU National Championships, when a "no height" in the pole vault marred the score.

At the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Jenner achieved personal bests in all five events on the first day of the men's decathlon – a "home run" – despite being in second place behind Guido Kratschmer of West Germany. Jenner was confident: "The second day has all my good events. If everything works out all right, we should be ahead after it's all over." Following a rainstorm on the second day, Jenner watched teammate Fred Dixon get injured in the 110 meter hurdles and so adopted a cautious approach to the hurdles and discus, then had personal bests in the pole vault, when Jenner took the lead, and javelin. At that point, victory was virtually assured, and it remained to be seen by how much Jenner would improve the record. In the final event – the 1500 meters, which was seen live on national television – Jenner looked content to finish the long competition. Jenner sprinted the last lap, making up a 50-meter deficit and nearly catching the event favorite, Soviet Leonid Litvinenko, who was already well out of contention for the gold medal, and whose personal best had been eight seconds better than Jenner's personal best before the race. Jenner set a new personal best time and won the gold medal with a world-record score of 8,618 points.

Olympic world record performance:

100m (wind) Long jump (wind) Shot put High jump 400m 110H (wind) Discus Pole vault Javelin 1500m
10.94 +0.0 PB
819
7.22 +0.0 PB
865
15.35 PB
809
2.03 PB
882
47.51 PB
923
14.84
866
50.04
873
4.80 PB
1005
68.52 PB
862
4:12.61 PB
714

Impact

After the event, Jenner took an American flag from a spectator and carried it during the victory lap, starting a tradition that became common among winning athletes. Abandoning the vaulting poles in the stadium, with no intention of ever competing again, Jenner stated that: "In 1972, I made the decision that I would go four years and totally dedicate myself to what I was doing, and then I would move on after it was over with. I went into that competition knowing that would be the last time I would ever do this." She explained, "It hurts every day when you practice hard. Plus, when this decathlon is over, I got the rest of my life to recuperate. Who cares how bad it hurts?"

Jenner became a national hero and received the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States. Jenner was named the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year in 1976.

Jenner's 1976 world and Olympic record was broken by four points by Daley Thompson at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. In 1985, Jenner's Olympic decathlon score was reevaluated against the IAAF's updated decathlon scoring table and was reported as 8,634 for comparative purposes. This converted mark stood as the American record until 1991, when it was surpassed by eventual gold medalist, and world record holder, Dan O'Brien of Dan & Dave fame. As of 2018, Jenner was ranked twenty-sixth on the world all-time list and ninth on the American all-time list.

Jenner was inducted into the United States National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1980, the Olympic Hall of Fame in 1986, the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame and the Connecticut Sports Hall of Fame in 1994, and the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame in 2010. For almost 20 years, San Jose City College hosted an annual Bruce Jenner Invitational competition.

International competitions

Representing the  United States
Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
1972 Olympic Games Munich, Germany 10th Decathlon 7722 pts
1975 Pan American Games Mexico City, Mexico 1st Decathlon 8045 pts A
1976 Olympic Games Montreal, Canada 1st Decathlon 8618 pts

National events

  • 1972 United States Olympic Trials: 3 (7846 pts)
  • 1973 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships: 5th (7617 pts)
  • 1974 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships: 1 (8245 pts)
  • 1975 French Athletics Championships: 1 (8058 pts)
  • 1976 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships: 1 (8542 pts)
  • 1976 United States Olympic Trials: 1 (8538 pts)

Personal records

All information from IAAF

Post-Olympic career

Capitalizing on Olympic fame

Bruce Jenner greets Gerald Ford and William Tolbert in 1976 (cropped)
Jenner (right) greets Liberian president William Tolbert at the White House on September 21, 1976, as United States President Gerald Ford looks on

In the 1970s, Olympic athletes were considered to be amateurs and were not allowed to seek or accept payment for their positions as sports celebrities. During the Cold War in 1972, three major Olympic titles that had a long history of American success – basketball, the 100-meter dash, and decathlon – were won by Soviet athletes. All Soviet athletes were professionals, while the United States was limited to amateurs. Jenner became an American hero by returning the decathlon title to the United States. "After the Games were over," Jenner said, "I happened to be the right guy, at that right place, at that right time." Tony Kornheiser of The New York Times wrote that along with their wife, Chrystie, Jenner was "so high up on the pedestal of American heroism, it would take a crane to get them down."

After the expected Olympic success, Jenner planned to cash in on whatever celebrity status could follow a gold medal in the same mold as Johnny Weissmuller and Sonja Henie, who had become major movie stars following their gold medals. This would require forgoing any future Olympic competition. At the time, Jenner's agent George Wallach felt there was a four-year window – until the next Olympics – upon which to capitalize. Wallach reported that Jenner was being considered for the role of Superman, which ultimately went to Christopher Reeve. "I really don't know how many offers we have", Wallach claimed. "There are still unopened telegrams back at the hotel and you just can't believe the offers that poured in during the first two days."

Jenner appeared on the cover of the August 9, 1976, issue of Sports Illustrated and the February 1979 issue of Gentleman's Quarterly. Jenner became a spokesperson for Tropicana, Minolta, and Buster Brown shoes. Jenner was also selected by the Kansas City Kings with the 139th overall pick in the seventh round of the 1977 NBA draft despite not having played basketball since high school. The publicity stunt was executed by team president/general manager Joe Axelson to mock the Kansas City Chiefs' yearly claims that they planned on selecting "the best athlete available" in the National Football League Draft. Jenner was presented with a jersey customized with the number 8618, the Olympic gold medal-winning score, but would never appear as an active player with the Kings.

Wheaties spokesperson

Jenner on Wheaties cereal box
Image of a throwback Wheaties cereal box featuring Jenner. The box reflects designs from the 1970s when General Mills used Jenner for promoting their breakfast cereal. A vintage box sold in 2015 on eBay for US$400.

In 1977, Jenner became a spokesperson for Wheaties brand breakfast cereal and appeared in a photograph on the cover of the cereal box. After taking over from Olympic champion Bob Richards, Jenner was second in a succession of athletes featured as spokespersons for the brand. Mary Lou Retton succeeded Jenner in 1984.

On November 22, 1977, Jenner went to San Francisco to refute charges filed by San Francisco district attorney Joseph Freitas that General Mills, the maker of Wheaties, had engaged in deceptive advertising in its campaign that featured Jenner. Jenner liked Wheaties and ate the breakfast cereal two or three times a week, which supported the advertising campaign's claims. Two days later, Freitas withdrew the suit, saying that it was "a case of overzealousness" on the part of his staff.

When Jenner came out as a trans woman in 2015, General Mills stated that: "Bruce Jenner continues to be a respected member of Team Wheaties." After a negative response to this initial statement, Mike Siemienas, General Mills's brand media relations manager, clarified it by saying: "Bruce Jenner has been a respected member of Team Wheaties, and Caitlyn Jenner will continue to be."

Television and film career

Jenner began television appearances in the mid-1970s, both as herself and in character roles. One of Jenner's first recurring television roles was as a co-host of the short-lived daytime talk and variety series America Alive! in 1978. The comedy Can't Stop the Music (1980) was Jenner's first film appearance. She starred in the made-for-TV movies The Golden Moment: An Olympic Love Story (1980) and Grambling's White Tiger (1981). During the 1981–1982 season, Jenner became a semi-regular cast member in the police series CHiPs, guest-starring as Officer Steve McLeish for six episodes, substituting for star Erik Estrada, who was locked in a contract dispute with NBC and MGM. Jenner also appeared in an episode of the sitcom Silver Spoons called "Trouble with Words", wherein her personal issues with dyslexia were revealed in a storyline about a recurring teenage character with the same problem.

Jenner appeared in the series Learn to Read and in the video games Olympic Decathlon (1981) and Bruce Jenner's World Class Decathlon (1996). The "hero shot", the finish of the final event of the 1976 Olympic decathlon, and the Wheaties cover, were parodied by John Belushi on Saturday Night Live, endorsing "Little Chocolate Donuts". In 1989, Jenner played herself in the comedy short Dirty Tennis written by James Van Patten.

Bruce Jenner 1996
Jenner in 1996

Jenner has appeared in a variety of game shows and reality television programs, including starring with Grits Gresham in an episode of The American Sportsman. In the early 1990s, Jenner was the host of an infomercial for a stair-climbing exercise machine called the Stair Climber Plus.

In January 2002, Jenner participated in an episode of the American series The Weakest Link, featuring Olympic athletes. In February and March 2003, Jenner was part of the cast of the American series I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. She made a cameo appearance in a season-three episode of The Apprentice, which aired in May 2005. She also partnered with Tai Babilonia for Skating with Celebrities in a series that aired January – March 2006 (they were eliminated during the fifth of seven episodes), served as a guest judge on Pet Star on Animal Planet. In November 2010, a photograph of Jenner was shown in a janitor's resume in an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Additional television and talk show appearances by Jenner include: Nickelodeon's made-for-TV film Gym Teacher: The Movie as well as episodes of Murder, She Wrote, the Lingo Olympic Winners episode, and talk shows such as Hannity and season 1, episode 21 of The Bonnie Hunt Show in 2008.

Since late 2007, Jenner has starred in the E! reality series Keeping Up with the Kardashians along with wife Kris Jenner, stepchildren Kourtney, Kimberley, Khloé, and Rob Kardashian (from Kris's marriage to attorney Robert Kardashian), and daughters Kylie and Kendall for 160 episodes.

In 2011, Jenner appeared in the Adam Sandler comedy Jack and Jill in a scene with Al Pacino as an actor in a play. Like Can't Stop the Music, the film won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture and swept every Razzie category.

In September 2016, Jenner appeared as herself on the Amazon Prime TV series Transparent in a dream sequence during the season three episode "To Sardines and Back".

In November 2019, it was announced that Jenner would be participating in the nineteenth season of the British version of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! after having previously appeared on the American iteration in 2003. Jenner ultimately placed sixth in the competition.

In 2021, Jenner appeared as a contestant on the fifth season of The Masked Singer as the "Phoenix". She was the second contestant to be unmasked and the first of Group B. In addition, she also holds the distinction as the show's first transgender contestant. That same year, Jenner also appeared in the Australian version of Big Brother VIP. In 2022 she joined Fox News as an on-air contributor.

Motorsports career

Jenner had a short career as a race car driver in the IMSA Camel GT series (International Motor Sports Association) in the 1980s. Jenner's first victory came in the 1986 12 hours of Sebring in the IMSA GTO class driving the 7-Eleven Roush Racing Ford Mustang with co-driver Scott Pruett. The pair won their class and finished 4th overall in the 12-hour endurance race. 1986 was also the most successful year of Jenner's career, finishing second in the championship to Pruett.

Jenner also competed in the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race at the Grand Prix of Long Beach, winning in 1979 and 1982. The former win came after holding off Al Unser, while the latter saw Jenner pass Ted Nugent with two laps remaining. In 1980, Jenner was contacted by NASCAR Winston Cup Series team DiGard Motorsports about driving the No. 88 car for the 1981 season; although Jenner expressed interest, Ricky Rudd was ultimately hired for the seat.

In 2022, Jenner founded Jenner Racing, a team in the all-female W Series open-wheel championship.

Business

Jenner had licensed her previous name for Bruce Jenner's Westwood Centers for Nautilus & Aerobics in the early 1980s to David A. Cirotto, president of other local Nautilus & Aerobics Centers. She had no ownership in the licensed name centers, which were solely owned by Cirotto. Jenner's company, Bruce Jenner Aviation, sells aircraft supplies to executives and corporations. Jenner was the business development vice president for a staffing industry software application known as JennerNet, which was based on Lotus Domino technology.

In March 2016, Jenner announced that she had been chosen as the face of H&M Sport. Later that year, H&M created a six-minute film featuring Jenner, called Caitlyn Jenner's Greatest Victories: A Timeline.

Personal life

Marriages

Prior to her gender transition, Jenner had been married three times, first to Chrystie Scott (née Crownover) from 1972 to 1981. They have two children, son Burt and daughter Cassandra "Casey" Marino (née Jenner). Jenner and Scott's divorce was finalized the first week of January 1981.

On January 5, 1981, Jenner married songwriter Linda Thompson in Hawaii. They have two sons together, Brandon and Brody. By February 1986, Jenner and Thompson had separated and subsequently divorced. Their sons later starred on the reality show The Princes of Malibu, and Brody appeared in the reality show The Hills.

On April 21, 1991, Jenner married Kris Kardashian (née Houghton) after five months of dating. They have two daughters, Kendall and Kylie. While married, Jenner was also the step-parent to Kris's children from her previous marriage – Kourtney, Kim, Khloé and Robert – who star in Keeping Up with the Kardashians. The couple separated in June 2013, but the separation was not publicly announced until four months later, in October. Kris filed for divorce in September 2014, citing irreconcilable differences. Their divorce terms were finalized in December 2014 and went into effect on March 23, 2015, as mandated by a state legal requirement for a six-months delay after the filing.

Kardashian-Jenner family tree

 
 
Robert Kardashian
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Kris Houghton
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Caitlyn Jenner
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Kourtney Kardashian
 
Scott Disick Kim Kardashian
 
Kanye West
 
Khloé Kardashian
 
Tristan Thompson Rob Kardashian
 
Blac Chyna Kendall Jenner
 
Kylie Jenner
 
Travis Scott
 
 
 
 
 

Sources:

Fatal car collision

In February 2015, Jenner was involved in a fatal multiple-vehicle collision on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California. Kim Howe, an animal rights activist and actress, was killed when Jenner's SUV ran into Howe's car. Accounts of the sequence of collisions have varied, as have the number of people injured.

Prosecutors declined to file criminal charges, but three civil lawsuits were filed against Jenner by Howe's stepchildren and drivers of other cars involved in the collision. Jessica Steindorff, a Hollywood agent who was hit by Howe's car, settled her case in December 2015. Howe's stepchildren settled their case in January 2016. Financial details were not disclosed in either case.

Gender transition

Coming out as a transgender woman

In a 20/20 television interview with Diane Sawyer in April 2015, Jenner came out as a trans woman, saying that she had dealt with gender dysphoria since her youth and that, "for all intents and purposes, I'm a woman." Jenner wore women's clothing for many years and took hormone replacement therapy but stopped after her romance with Kris Kardashian became more serious, leading to marriage in 1991. Jenner recounts having permission to explore her gender identity on her travels but not when they were coupled, and not knowing the best way to talk about the many issues contributed to the deterioration of the 23-year-long marriage, which ended formally in 2015.

Jenner underwent cosmetic surgery and completed sex reassignment surgery in January 2017.

Media attention

In June 2015, Jenner debuted her new name and image, and began publicly using feminine pronoun self-descriptors. Jenner held a renaming ceremony in July 2015, adopting the name Caitlyn Marie Jenner. Before her 20/20 interview, a two-part special titled Keeping Up with the Kardashians: About Bruce was filmed with the family in which she answered questions, and prepared her children for the personal and public aspects of the transition. In the special, which aired in May 2015, the point was emphasized that there is no one right way to transition. Jenner made it a priority to ensure that all her children were independent first before focusing on her transition. In September 2015, her name was legally changed to Caitlyn Marie Jenner and her gender to female.

Jenner's announcement that she is transgender came at an unprecedented time for trans visibility, including legislative initiatives. The 20/20 interview had 20.7 million viewers, making it television's "highest-ever rated newsmagazine telecast among adults 18–49 and adults 25–54". The Daily Beast wrote that Jenner's honesty, vulnerability, and fame may have caused "cheap jokes" about trans people to "seem mean to a mainstream audience on an unprecedented scale". Noting the shift in how comedians treated Jenner's transition, The Daily Beast saw the change as the same evolution that took place in acceptance of LGBT people as a whole when "comedians finally cross the critical threshold from mockery to creativity in their joke-telling".

Jenner's emerging gender identity was revealed in a Vanity Fair interview written by Buzz Bissinger. Annie Leibovitz photographed the cover, the magazine's first to feature an openly transgender woman, which was captioned "Call me Caitlyn". Using her Twitter handle, @Caitlyn_Jenner, she tweeted: "I'm so happy after such a long struggle to be living my true self. Welcome to the world Caitlyn. Can't wait for you to get to know her/me." Time magazine declared this tweet the tenth most re-tweeted tweet of 2015, based on re-tweets of tweets by verified users from January 1 to November 10 of that year. Jenner amassed over one million Twitter followers in four hours and three minutes, setting a new Guinness World Record and surpassing United States President Barack Obama, who, a month before, accomplished the same feat in four hours and fifty-two minutes. Four days later Jenner was up to 2.37 million followers, with another 1.5 million followers on Instagram.

Jenner was also mocked. Beginning in September 2015, she was depicted on the satirical American animated program South Park, which parodied her supporters' political correctness, as well as her driving record. The Jenner-related episodes were "Stunning and Brave", "Where My Country Gone?", "Sponsored Content", "Truth and Advertising" and "PC Principal Final Justice" from the show's 19th season.

In 2016, an episode of Epic Rap Battles of History was released featuring Jenner, as Bruce (portrayed by Peter Shukoff) and then Caitlyn (portrayed by transgender rapper Jolie "NoShame" Drake), rap battling against Bruce Banner (portrayed by Lloyd Ahlquist) then The Hulk (portrayed by Mike O'Hearn).

Politics

Jenner leans towards political conservatism and is a Republican. She describes herself as socially liberal and fiscally conservative. "I have gotten more flak for being a conservative Republican than I have for being trans", she has said. Although stopping short of an endorsement, Jenner said she liked Ted Cruz in the 2016 Republican presidential primaries. On her reality show I Am Cait, Jenner said that although she does not support Donald Trump, she thinks he would be good for women's issues; she then stated she would never support Hillary Clinton. Jenner said she voted for Trump in the 2016 presidential election, although according to Politico, voter records show she never cast a ballot in the election.

In February 2017, President Trump rescinded federal requirements giving transgender students the right to choose the school restroom matching their gender identity. In response, Jenner tweeted "Well @realDonaldTrump, from one Republican to another, this is a disaster. You made a promise to protect the LGBTQ community. Call me."

In April 2017, Jenner said she was in favor of same-sex marriage.

In July 2017, Jenner announced that she was contemplating running in the 2018 race for the U.S. Senate to represent California. Later in the month, she condemned Trump for issuing an order to reinstate a ban on transgender people from serving in the military. In her tweet, she wrote "What happened to your promise to fight for them?", juxtaposing it with Trump's tweet from June 2016 in which he promised to fight for the LGBT community.

In October 2018, Jenner withdrew her support of Donald Trump; she felt "that the trans community was relentlessly attacked by [Trump]", contrary to her expectations. Her reversal came after a Trump administration proposal to restrict the legal definition of a person's gender to that assigned at birth.

2021 California gubernatorial recall election

Caitlyn For California FINAL Color
Jenner's gubernatorial campaign logo

In early April 2021, it was reported that Jenner was considering running for Governor of California in the 2021 recall gubernatorial election as a Republican. Later in the month on April 23, Jenner announced her run for governor.

In May 2021, during her run, Jenner stated in an interview with TMZ that trans girls should not be allowed to compete in girls' sports at school, backing Republican Party views on transgender people in sports. Jenner reiterated her views on Twitter the next day, stating that "it's an issue of fairness and we need to protect girls' sports in our schools." She has been criticized by many transgender rights advocates who do not see her as an asset to their cause.

In her pitch to voters, Jenner has likened herself to Donald Trump, calling herself a "disrupter" like Trump.

During the campaign, Jenner left the United States, going to Australia in order to compete on that country's television series Big Brother VIP. Although invited to take part in candidate debates, she did not participate. Jenner fought Governor Gavin Newsom in court to prevent the California Secretary of State from placing Newsom's party affiliation on the ballot, and won the legal battle.

Jenner ended up in 13th place with 75,215 votes, which was one percent of the votes cast for replacement candidates.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Caitlyn Jenner para niños

  • History of transgender people in the United States
  • List of athletes on Wheaties boxes
  • List of transgender people
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