From growing breasts, surgery in Denmark and cross dressing in public to marrying Kris and building a reality empire as a man: How Bruce backed out of 1980s sex change plan to transform himself into 'Heather'

  • World saw visible changes in Olympic champion and reality star last year 
  • But he actually attempted to transition shortly after winning gold  in 1976
  • Revealed he went through hormone therapy and electrolysis   
  • He also had electrolysis to remove his beard and the hair on his chest  
  • However fear caused him to stop and turn to giving motivational speeches 
  • Eldest son Burt, 36, considered his father's gender identity in junior high
  • One time he ran out of a classroom, fearing he wouldn't 'see' him again
  • Bruce revealed he is a Christian and at points is concerned his lifestyle comes into conflict with the bible  

The world first started to notice the dramatic difference in Bruce Jenner's appearance last year, sparking rumors about his gender identity.

But the former Olympic champion and reality star actually attempted to transition 30 years ago, taking hormones for almost five years and growing 36B breasts. 

At one of his lowest points the 65-year-old considered fleeing to Denmark for reassignment surgery, before returning to America as his children's Aunt Heather. 

During his explosive ABC interview with Diane Sawyer, which aired on Friday, he revealed he embarked on hormone therapy and electrolysis to remove his beard and the hairs on his chest within 10 years of becoming an Olympic champion in 1976. 

He said he took the estrogen, saying women do not know 'how lucky they are that they can be themselves'.

However, fear drove him to stop the process and he continued giving motivational speeches as a man. But he admitted he would go back to his hotel after each event, take off his suit, and dress as 'her'.

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Before the changes: Bruce Jenner is pictured in the early 1980s before his first attempt at transitioning into a woman. Fear drove him to stop the process

Gradual transition: The 65-year-old embarked on hormone therapy and electrolysis to remove his beard and the hairs on his chest within 10 years of becoming an Olympic champion in 1976

'I'd literally go up into the hotel room, change [into women's] clothes, and walk around,' he said. 

'I felt like a liar,' he told Diane, reflecting on the speeches he gave, telling people to 'find the champion inside you' while wearing a suit. 

The first glimpse of what Bruce would look like as a woman came in 1981 during a Bob Hope special. He wore a dress, a wig and full make-up to spoof the Mandrell sisters with professional football player Merlin Olson.

By then he had already been wearing dresses and the changes were hitting his family hard.  

Both his first and second wives knew about his secret, he revealed, admitting the revelations had put a strain on their relationships.

'Chrystie was the first one to know,' he said of his first wife, Chrystie Crownover. 'I said these are my issues, this is what I deal with.' She was loving, he said, but fundamentally believed she could change him. Linda Thompson, his second wife, knew it was something deeper, he said. 

His eldest son Burt, 36, told Sawyer about a traumatizing experience in junior high school after learning about something called a 'gender struggle'. Immediately he thought his father may be going through the process.  

He said: 'I just remember one day being in junior high class and having to kinda get up and run out of the room quickly because i was afraid that my dad was going to transition to a woman and I was never going to see him again.' 

Despite his choices, Bruce said was concerned his lifestyle put him at odds with the Bible. He admitted to Diane he was a Christian - citing a passage from the book of Deuteronomy, which classifies a man dressing as a woman as sin.

'I would sit in church and always wonder, 'In God's eyes, how does he see me?' he said. 'Maybe this is my cause in life. This is why God put me on this earth... to deal with this issue.'

As for Kris, Bruce revealed that his third wife knew about his internal torment from the moment they started dating in the early 1990s. 

Platstic surgery: The reality star also had surgery on his nose during that time

Plastic surgery: The reality star also had surgery on his nose during that time. It appears there was little change as he entered the 1990s 

In 1991 Bruce and Kris got married, surrounded by their children 

In 1991 Bruce and Kris got married, surrounded by their children 

Getting older: In 2001 is features seem to be more defined. Bruce was also called out for tweezing his eyebrows 

Stark change: During the tell-all, a comparison between his face in 1980 and 1990 shows a visible difference in his nose 

On stage: The first glimpse of what Bruce would look like as a a woman cam e in 1981 during a Bob Hope spoof

On stage: The first glimpse of what Bruce would look like as a a woman cam e in 1981 during a Bob Hope spoof

New identity: Bruce has revealed that next time he makes a public appearance, it will be as 'Her' 

Towards the end of the interview Bruce invited Diane into his bedroom to see his wardrobe 

Towards the end of the interview Bruce invited Diane into his bedroom to see his wardrobe 

She saw him cross-dressing, he revealed, but he found it difficult to fully express how deep his feelings sat; that he believed his soul to be female. 

As the tell-all aired his second wife, Linda Thompson, published a blog detailing their love affair, idyllic marriage and the gender dysphoria revelations that led to their divorce after two sons and a seemingly picture perfect Malibu life.

Thompson, now 64, met Bruce at the Playboy mansion when he was separated from his first wife, Chrystie Crownover, the mother of his two eldest children. They fell in love and got married in Hawaii when she was already pregnant with their son Brandon.

A few years later they welcomed a second son together, Brody. Bruce told Diane the gender issue was a large part of their break-up in 1984.

As Linda wrote on the Huffington Post, 'Those were the happiest days of my life. I had a wonderful husband, who was the most athletic, high-spirited, energetic, easygoing, manly man imaginable. I had two beautiful, healthy baby boys. I had two great stepchildren. Life was just about as good as it gets.'

Bruce was travelling the world doing paid appearances and lived a glamorous life in Malibu, frequently seeing his elder son, Burt, and daughter, Casey, from his first marriage.

But when Brody was 18 months old and Brandon was three, Bruce revealed to Linda the secret that he finally told the world Friday night. She was, she insists, blindsided.

Scared: His eldest son Burt, 36, told Diane about a traumatizing experience in junior high school where he ran out of a classroom, fearing his father was transitioing to a woman, and would never see him again

Scared: His eldest son Burt, 36, told Diane about a traumatizing experience in junior high school where he ran out of a classroom, fearing his father was transitioing to a woman, and would never see him again

Family: The couple's youngest son, Brody (left), was 18 months old and Brandon (right) was three when Bruce revealed to Linda (center) the secret that he finally told the world Friday night - that he identified as a woman

Family: The couple's youngest son, Brody (left), was 18 months old and Brandon (right) was three when Bruce revealed to Linda (center) the secret that he finally told the world Friday night - that he identified as a woman

'Champion': On Friday, Linda, now aged 64, took to Instagram to express her support for her former husband

'Champion': On Friday, Linda, now aged 64, took to Instagram to express her support for her former husband

As the tell-all aired his second wife, Linda Thompson, published a blog detailing their love affair, idyllic marriage and the gender dysphoria revelations that led to their divorce after two sons and a seemingly picture perfect Malibu life

As the tell-all aired his second wife, Linda Thompson, published a blog detailing their love affair, idyllic marriage and the gender dysphoria revelations that led to their divorce after two sons and a seemingly picture perfect Malibu life

With a 'somber look' Bruce told Linda - who had braced herself for the revelation of perhaps an affair - that he identified as a woman.

'What do you mean you identify as a woman?' she recalled asking. 'What does that mean?

And just as he told Diane, Bruce told his wife of four plus years that as long as he could remember, he felt wrong with the reflection staring back at him in the mirror.

According to Linda, her handsome husband told her, 'I have lived in the wrong skin, the wrong body, my whole life. It is a living hell for me, and I really feel that I would like to move forward with the process of becoming a woman, the woman I have always been inside.'

She insists she never saw it coming and there were no signs. 

Unlike Bruce's third wife Kris, who walked in on Jenner in a dress, Linda says there was no evidence he had ever raided her closet or wore any women's clothes.

'No. Not a clue. Nothing. Nada. Never,' she said. 

I have lived in the wrong skin, the wrong body, my whole life. It is a living hell for me, and I really feel that I would like to move forward with the process of becoming a woman, the woman I have always been inside
Bruce Jenner, according to ex-wife Linda Thompson's blog 

The couple entered therapy after Linda found someone who specialized in gender dysphoria, and the doctor 'broke my heart into a million pieces.'

She quotes the doctor as telling the couple of the sobering suicide statistics of transgender people at the time - 25 per cent committed suicide- and told Linda she could stay with Bruce as he became a 'she' or Linda could divorce him. But she couldn't change Bruce.

While the couple was gutting it out in therapy for six months in a bid to save their marriage, Linda writes, Bruce was struggling.

According to Linda, Bruce 'considered traveling out of the country, possibly to Denmark, to have the gender-confirmation surgery and then come back to the U.S. identifying as female.'

With four little ones running around under the age of ten, she didn't understand how that would work.

''What about the children?' He thought maybe he could reenter their lives as 'Aunt Heather.''

While she says he referred to himself as Heather at the time, he never revealed his female name to Diane, referring to that identity as just 'She'.

As Linda writes, she sobbed endlessly and was despondent about the end of her marriage, but as devastated as she was, her 'heart bled for Bruce'.

Linda decided she didn't want to be married to a woman, their marriage ended, and a few years later, she married music producer David Foster.

In the years during and after the couple split, Bruce started taking female hormones.

He detailed to Diane that period in the '80s, saying that the hormones quieted and calmed his mind, while his breasts grew to a size 36B during the five years that he was taking them. 

Linda remembers the time well, too, and also remembers the lengths he went to in order to change his macho facade.  

Tearful: Bruce revealed that he identifies as a woman in his explosive interview with Diane Sawyer last night

Tearful: Bruce revealed that he identifies as a woman in his explosive interview with Diane Sawyer last night

Transitioning: 'One day, after having spent a little time at Bruce's house, both boys came into the kitchen and said to me, 'Mommy, we saw Daddy getting out of the shower naked, and Daddy has boobs!' writes Linda

Transitioning: 'One day, after having spent a little time at Bruce's house, both boys came into the kitchen and said to me, 'Mommy, we saw Daddy getting out of the shower naked, and Daddy has boobs!' writes Linda

'Thirty years ago the only hair removal that was permanent was electrolysis,' Linda writes. 'Poor Bruce began the process of having electrolysis performed on his heavily bearded face. He then began having the hair on his chest removed.' 

And she - and their children - couldn't miss his newfound bosom. 

Linda writes that she had an open door policy for Bruce to see his children, and he was welcome to visit Brandon and Brody anytime. But, and she doesn't detail why, the boys never spent the night at Bruce's house and occasionally visited.

Most likely it was to shield them, as an anecdote about seeing their father undressed led to a lot of confusion.

After Bruce and Kris married, there were periods of several years going by without Bruce attempting to contact or visit his sons
Linda Thompson 

'One day, after having spent a little time at Bruce's house, both boys came into the kitchen and said to me, 'Mommy, we saw Daddy getting out of the shower naked, and Daddy has boobs!'

And so she tried to cover for Bruce, their father.

'Well, boys, you know how your dad was super-muscular and trained very hard for the Olympics? He had big muscles, and some of those muscles are called 'pectorals.' When you stop training and you stop lifting weights, sometimes the muscle turns to fat. So his pectoral muscles have probably just gotten a little flabby and look like boobs.'

Soon enough, the exhausting coverup of his transition ended, and it wasn't Bruce's gender dysphoria Linda was protecting them from.

Bruce stopped taking hormones, didn't go to Denmark, and started dating again. A source told ET he had his breasts reduced.

According to Bruce during his ABC interview, he chickened out of going through with it and stopped taking the hormones.

Linda then strongly hints that Kris knew more about Bruce's gender identity crisis than Bruce let on to during the Diane Sawyer interview.  

Support: On the Diane Sawyer episode, Brody and Brandon both sit proudly alongside their father, supporting him fully as he enters the next phase of life as 'She'. And their mother also wishes Bruce well

Support: On the Diane Sawyer episode, Brody and Brandon both sit proudly alongside their father, supporting him fully as he enters the next phase of life as 'She'. And their mother also wishes Bruce well

'Bruce dated several women, even though he had begun his transition and showed signs of it. He had no facial hair, no chest hair, and boobs, and he had gotten a nose job and trimmed his Adam's apple. 

'Clearly he was still confused and conflicted as to how fully he was ready to commit to changing his life completely.' 

Then he married Kris and stopped seeing his sons, the sons who'd seen his breasts, for years.

'After Bruce and Kris married, there were periods of several years going by without Bruce attempting to contact or visit his sons. No birthday cards or phone calls, no 'Merry Christmas', no 'Everything OK?' after the big Northridge earthquake. Nothing.'

But, in hindsight, Linda believes, the revelation of what her sons' father was struggling with, and running away from, in the years he vanished from their lives, helps explain a lot.

On the Diane Sawyer episode, Brody and Brandon both sit proudly with their father, supporting him fully as he enters the next phase of life as 'She'. And their mother also wishes him well.

Linda took to Instagram to support him on Friday, hours before the TV show aired, writing: 'Once a champion of Olympian magnitude...now a champion for those who share the struggle to just be who they are. #compassion #acceptance #tolerance #education #evolution #kindness #inclusion.'

And she ends her blog, 'I can now breathe a little easier, knowing he now has found the strength and the courage to fulfill his dream.'

Linda divorced David Foster in 2005. 

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