Early life

Jenner was born William Bruce Jenner on October 28, 1949, in Mount Kisco, New York, to Esther Ruth (née McGuire) and William Hugh Jenner. Her father was an arborist and he and her paternal grandparents were from Canada. She has two sisters, Lisa and Pam. Her younger brother, Burt, was killed in a car accident in Canton, Connecticut, in 1976, shortly after Jenner's success at the Olympic Games.

As a young child, Jenner was diagnosed with dyslexia. She 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, a switch to the decathlon was encouraged by Graceland track coach L. D. Weldon. Jenner debuted in the decathlon at the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa in 1970, placing fifth. Jenner graduated from Graceland College in 1973 with a degree in physical education.

Olympic career

All Olympic events and medals are for men's events and prior to public gender transition.

Early career

At the 1972 men's decathlon U.S. Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon, Jenner was in fifth place behind Steve Gough and Andrew Pettes. Needing to make up a 19-second gap on Gough in the men's 1500 metres, Jenner ran a fast, last lap, finishing 22 seconds ahead of the other runners to make the Olympic team, prompting the Eugene Register-Guard to ask: "Who's Jenner?" A tenth-place finish in the decathlon event at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich followed. Watching Soviet Mykola Avilov win inspired Jenner 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. Chrystie provided most of the family income working as a flight attendant for United Airlines. Jenner sold insurance at night (earning US$9,000 a year), while training during the day. In the era before professionalism was allowed in Olympic sports, this kind of training was unheard of. During this period, Jenner trained at the San Jose City College (SJCC) and San Jose State University (SJSU) tracks. Centered around Bert Bonanno, the coach at SJCC, San Jose was, at the time, a hotbed for training and was called the "Track Capital of the World". Many other aspiring Olympic athletes such as Millard Hampton, Andre Phillips, John Powell, Mac Wilkins, and Al Feuerbach also trained there. Jenner's most successful events were the skill events of the second day: hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1500 metres.

Olympic success

Jenner was the American champion in the men's decathlon event in 1974, and was featured on the cover of Track & Field News'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, earning the tournament record with 8,045 points. This was followed by new 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. Between 1973 and 1976, of the 13 decathlons Jenner contested, her only loss was at the 1975 AAU National Championships when she "no heighted" in the pole vault.

At the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Jenner achieved five personal bests on the first day of the men's decathlon - a "home run" - despite finishing 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." On the second day, Jenner had a strong showing in the hurdles and discus, and personal bests in the pole vault and javelin. By that point, victory was virtually assured, but it remained to be seen by how much Jenner would improve the record. In the final event, the 1500 metres, seen live on national television, Jenner looked content to finish the long competition. Then 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 overall title, but whose personal best had been 8 seconds better than Jenner's before the race. Jenner set a new personal best time, taking the gold medal with a world-record score of 8,616 points.

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 is now common among winning athletes. Abandoning 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." Jenner 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?"

As a result of winning the Olympic decathlon, Jenner became a national hero receiving the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States, and being named the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year in 1976.

Jenner's 1976 world record was broken by four points by Daley Thompson in 1980. 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 2011, Jenner was ranked twenty-fifth on the world all-time list and ninth on the American all-time list. Including the 2012 emergence of a new world record holder Ashton Eaton, Jenner's mark has moved to #27 worldwide and #10 USA.

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.

Post-Olympic career

Capitalizing on Olympic fame

In the 1970s, Olympic athletes were considered amateur and were not allowed to seek or accept payment for their positions as sports celebrities. In 1972, during the Cold War, three major Olympic titles that had a long history of American success—basketball, the 100 metre dash, and decathlon—were won by Soviet athletes. Winning back the decathlon title made Jenner an American hero. "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: "Jenner is twirling the nation like a baton. He and wife, Chrystie, are so high up on the pedestal of American heroism, it would take a crane to get them down."

After her Olympic success, Jenner decided to cash in on her celebrity status, which would require forgoing any future Olympic competition. At the time, Jenner's agent George Wallach felt that she had a four-year window 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, the February 1979 issue of Gentleman's Quarterly, and on the cover of the 1982 Playgirl magazine. Jenner became a spokesperson for Tropicana, Minolta, and Buster Brown shoes.

Wheaties spokesperson

In 1977, Jenner became a spokesperson for Wheaties brand breakfast cereal and appeared on the now iconic front 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 false advertising in its campaign featuring 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 Caitlyn 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 starred in the disco-era Village People comedy Can't Stop the Music (1980). The movie was a flop. Jenner's performance was nominated for the 1980 Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor; the film won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture. It was Jenner's only theatrical release until 2011. Jenner had some success with a television career, starring 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 iconic "hero shot", the finish of the final event of 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.

Jenner has appeared in a variety of game shows and reality television programs, including starring with Grits Gresham in an episode of ABC's The American Sportsman. The program features Gresham hunting, fishing, or shooting in exotic areas with celebrities. 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, as well as (with the Kardashian family) on Celebrity Family Feud. In November 2010, a photograph of Jenner was shown in a janitor's resume in an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Other 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, Family Guy, NBC's game show Identity, 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. Jenner has also made cameo appearances on the show's spin-off series.

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.

Motorsports career

Jenner was a successful 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 commented, "I was a lot more badass runner than I was a driver."

Business

Jenner had licensed her previous name for Bruce Jenner's Westwood Centers for Nautilus & Aerobics in the early 1980s, though she had no ownership in the centers, which were owned by David 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.

Personal life

Jenner is a Christian, leans towards political conservatism, and is a Republican. "I have gotten more flak for being a conservative Republican", she said, "than I have for being trans." Although stopping short of an endorsement, Jenner has stated that she likes Ted Cruz, a Republican candidate for President of the United States in the 2016 election, despite Cruz's negative views of trans people. (Cruz dropped out of the race on May 3, 2016.) 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.

Marriages

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

On January 5, 1981, Jenner married actress Linda Thompson in Hawaii. They have two sons together, Brandon Jenner and Sam Brody Jenner (known as 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 Jenner. While married, Jenner was also the step-parent to Kris's children from her previous marriage - Kourtney, Kim, Khloé and Rob - who star in Keeping Up with the Kardashians. The couple announced their separation in October 2013, though they had actually separated in June. Kris filed for divorce in September 2014 citing irreconcilable differences. Their divorce terms were finalized in December 2014 and came into effect on March 23, 2015, because of a six-month state legal requirement.

Fatal car crash

In February 2015, Jenner was involved in a fatal multiple-vehicle collision on 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 brought 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. The third lawsuit is ongoing.

Gender transition

Coming out as a transgender woman

In an April 2015, 20/20 interview with Diane Sawyer, 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 cross dressed for many years and took hormone replacement therapy but stopped after her romance with Kris Kardashian in the early 1990s became more serious. Jenner recounts having permission to explore her gender identity on her own travels but not when they were coupled, and that 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.

While she has undergone some cosmetic surgery, she has neither undergone sex reassignment surgery nor ruled it out; she stated that, for her, life as a woman is primarily a matter of mental state and lifestyle. She said she has never been sexually attracted to men, but has instead always been sexually attracted to women, and that, keeping in mind the difficulty people have understanding the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity, she will identify as asexual for now.

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. Prior to 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 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 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 also received criticism. 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 April 2016 during the Republican presidential primaries, Jenner became an exemplar for candidate Donald Trump's opposition to North Carolina's Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, with Trump saying that Jenner could use any restroom of her choosing at his Trump Tower property. Jenner soon posted a video showing that she had taken Trump up on his offer. She thanked Trump and assured Trump's adversary Ted Cruz that "nobody got molested."

Reception

In August 2015, Jenner won the Social Media Queen award at the Teen Choice Awards. In October 2015, Glamour named her one of its 25 Glamour Women of the Year, calling her a "Trans Champion." Feminist author Germaine Greer called the magazine's decision misogynistic, questioning whether a transgender woman could be better than "someone who is just born a woman." Jenner also received criticism, from individuals such as actress Rose McGowan, for stating (in a Buzzfeed interview) that the hardest part about being a woman is figuring out what to wear. McGowan argued: "We are more than deciding what to wear. We are more than the stereotypes foisted upon us by people like you. You're a woman now? Well f**king learn that we have had a VERY different experience than your life of male privilege." Chris Mandle of The Independent stated: "Jenner has gone on to inspire countless men and women, but her comments, which were made after she was celebrated at Glamour Magazine's Women Of The Year in New York were branded 'offensive and insulting'." He added: "People began tweeting the other, harder things women have to deal with, such as institutionalized oppression, abuse and sexual assault". James Smith, husband of Moira Smith, the only female New York Police Department officer to die on September 11, 2001, returned Moira's "Woman of the Year" award, given posthumously. Referring to Jenner as a man, he stated that he found Glamour giving Jenner the same award insulting to Moira's memory, and referred to the matter as a publicity stunt. Smith later said that, having supported transgender youth and Glamour's decision to honor transgender actress Laverne Cox in 2014, he did not object because Jenner is transgender; he objected to Jenner's "hardest part about being a woman" commentary; this proved to him that Jenner: "is not truly a woman. I believe this comment and others he has made trivializes the transgender experience as I have witnessed it."

Conversely, Adrienne Tam of The Daily Telegraph argued that Jenner deserved the Glamour award, stating: "What McGowan failed to take into consideration was the jesting manner in which Jenner spoke." Tam said:

also immediately followed up her 'what women wear' dilemma with: 'It's more than that. I'm kind of at this point in my life where I'm trying to figure this womanhood thing out. It is more than hair, makeup, clothes, all that kind of stuff. There's an element here that I'm still kind of searching for. And I think that'll take a while. Because I think as far as gender, we're all on a journey. We're all learning and growing about ourselves. And I feel the same way.

Tam considered McGowan's criticism to be over the top, and stated of James Smith's criticism, "The salient point here is one about courage. We easily recognise physical courage such as saving orphans from burning buildings, or ordinary people putting their lives in the line of fire. It is far harder to recognise mental courage." She added: "Without a doubt, the police officer who died in the September 11 attacks was courageous. But so is Jenner. It's a different kind of courage, but it is courage nonetheless."

In November 2015, Jenner was listed as one of Entertainment Weekly's 2015 Entertainers of the Year. In December 2015, she was named Barbara Walters' Most Fascinating Person of 2015. Also in that month, she was listed on Time magazine's eight-person shortlist for the 2015 Person of the Year, and Bing released its list of the year's "Most Searched Celebrities", which Jenner was at the top of, and declared Jenner's Vanity Fair cover the second in a list of "top celeb moments of 2015." She was the second most searched for person on Google in 2015. In April 2016, she was listed in the Time 100.

LGBT community

With her profile raised by her coming out as a trans woman in 2015, Jenner has been called the most famous openly transgender woman in the world. She is also one of the most recognized LGBT people in the world and arguably the most famous LGBT athlete. Jenner acknowledged in her 20/20 interview that part of her reason for being so visible was to bring attention to gender dysphoria, violence against trans women, and other transgender issues. She also sought to promote more informed discussion of LGBT issues at a time when the trans community has unprecedented visibility. She signed with Creative Artists Agency's speakers department and will collaborate with the CAA Foundation on a philanthropic strategy focusing on LGBT issues. She made a private appearance at the Los Angeles LGBT Center in June 2015, where she spoke with at-risk trans youth.

Jenner received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award during the 2015 ESPY Awards in July 2015. ESPN executive producer Maura Mandt said Jenner was given the award because "she has shown the courage to embrace a truth that had been hidden for years, and to embark on a journey that may not only give comfort to those facing similar circumstances, but can also help to educate people on the challenges that the transgender community faces." She is the third consecutive openly LGBT person to receive the award following footballer Michael Sam (2014) and anchorwoman Robin Roberts (2013).

In October, Jenner presented the Point Foundation's Horizon Award to television producers Rhys Ernst (of the show Transparent) and Zach Zyskowski (of the show Becoming Us). This was her second public speaking engagement after her gender transition.

In November, Jenner was listed as one of the nine runners-up for The Advocate 's Person of the Year. That month she was also listed as one of the Out 100 of 2015, with Out calling her the "Newsmaker of the Year." On International Human Rights Day, Jenner discussed transgender rights with Samantha Power, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. In 2016, Jenner was on the cover of The Advocate's February/March issue.

MAC Cosmetics collaborated with Jenner on a lipstick, called Finally Free, which was made available for purchase April 8, 2016, with MAC stating, "100% of the selling price goes to the MAC AIDS Fund Transgender Initiative, to further its work in support of transgender communities." Also in April 2016, Jenner was listed as #8 on Out's Power 50 list. In May 2016, her interview with Diane Sawyer in 2015 won Outstanding TV Journalism - Newsmagazine at the GLAAD Media Awards.

I Am Cait

Main article: I Am Cait

Jenner's gender transition is the subject of I Am Cait, initially an eight-part TV documentary series, which premiered on E! in July 2015 to an audience of 2.7 million viewers. Jenner is an executive producer of the show. The show focuses on Jenner's transition and how it affects her relationships with her family and friends. The show also explores how Jenner adjusts to what she sees as her job as a role model for the transgender community. The show has been renewed for a second season to air in 2016.

The show tied for best Outstanding Reality Program at the GLAAD Media Awards in 2016.

Charities

Caitlyn Jenner supports the following charitable causes: Gay Youth, Gay Rights, Transgender Rights, Dyslexia.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]