Transcripts For WPVI Nightline 20150425

female announcer you could win 1,000 a day for life. husband hon its Grover Cleveland female announcer . When you play the new cash4life, from the pennsylvania lottery. husband let me get this. female announcer that means you too could experience the joy of winning. wife look who went shopping female announcer every day. grover your chariot awaits announcer . For the rest of your life. wife jump on grover nothing like a new mower. wife what . grover see you tomorrow female announcer cash4life from the pennsylvania lottery. Play for fun. Cash for life. This is a special edition of nightline. Bruce jenner, the interview. Good evening. Thank you for joining us. Tonight, the secret bruce jenner says he always tried to keep hidden now coming to light. The olympic legend turned reality show patriarch had the world hanging on his every word as he sat down with our own diane sawyer for that intimate anticipated interview revealing he considers himself a woman. We want to begin with a note about pro nouns. In this he said we should use a familiar pronoun for him as we try to tell his story. How are you doing . Reporter he is 62 welcoming and apprehensive. Its going to be an emotional roller coaster but somehow will get through it. Come in to my house. As we sit down the persons whose face has changed so much over recent years is quiet. Knowing the moment that carries you forward can also mean no way back. So bruce jenner is bruce jenner is um i would say i have always been confused with my gender identity since i was this big. I look at it this way, bruce always telling a lie, lived a lie his whole life about who he is. I cant do that any longer. So when i take my pony tail out when we talk about this stuff. Lets take the pole pony tail out. A symbolic moment after 65 years. In a sense, we start again. Are you a woman . Um yes. For all intents and purposes i am a woman. People look at me differently. They see you as this macho male but my heart and soul and everything that i do in life it is part of me. That female side is part of me. Thats who i am. I was not genetically born that way. I have all of the male parts and all of that kind of stuff. So a lot of ways we are different, okay but we still identify as female. Thats very hard for bruce jenner to say. Because why . I dont want to disappoint people. Reporter hundreds of millions of people who once cheered a reallife american super hero. The olympics 1976 he has just been proclaimed the greatest athlete in the world. You were the worlds greatest athlete. Uhhuh. Reporter we see what do you see. A confused person running away from my life and who i was. Reporter with fear . Bl bigtime fear scared to death. Didnt know what my future held at that time. Reporter everybody struggling with what this is. That is me. That is her. Reporter people have to know that you can want to identify as a woman and still kick butt. [ laughter ] reporter since a small boy he has a growing certainty that for some reason the gender of his body is different from the gender he feels in his soul. I look at guys and i go hes comfortable in his own skin. You know . I thought wouldnt that be a nice way to go through life. I look at women all the time thinking oh, my god, how lucky are they can wake up in the morning and be themselves. But me im stuck here in the middle. I got nowhere to go which way do i go . Reporter for the next 40 years wrestling an inner torment, through marriages to the women he loved, raising children he could not bear to hurt and finally as an collusive character on that reality show in which every private thing in life seemed ready to be bartered for fame. We told him there was a lot of skepticism among people watching him tonight. People are convinced that this is a stunt to promote the show. Yeah, were doing this for publicity. Yeah, right. Oh god diane, do you have any idea what i have been going through all of my life and they are saying we are going to do this for publicity for a show. Theres a lot of shows out there. Reporter no but they think i understand where you are coming from. Reporter there is a shameless selling of everything these days. I know. And i get that. But what im doing is going to do some good. And were going to change the world. I really firmly believe that. That were going to make a difference in the world with what we are doing. Reporter he says his story tonight is just one of so many. An estimated 700,000 Transgender Americans all around us. I want to change. Reporter people of powerful talent and vulnerability, suicide, murder discrimination. This is so hard. Reporter homelessness. Im transgender. Reporter ridiculed. Im excited to start my life as a single middleaged woman, says bruce. Reporter he says he cant speak for them but he hopes his decision to come forward will help. His dream reemerge as the person he calls her. Bruce lives a lie. She is not a lie. I cant do it anymore. Reporter but you understand that people are baffled, confounded. Apart from the people who are just, oh my god. Is he gay. Are you gay . No. Im not gay. Im as far as i know heterosexual. Reporter what do you mean as far as you know . I have never been with a guy. I have always been married, raising kids. Reporter you can desire a woman every bit as much . Yeah. Reporter he is almost amused by my attempt to walk through this maze. Its the confusion inside of this. So much confusion. Reporter if you were male and you become female but you like women, are you a lesbian . Are you a heterosexual who going back to the sex thing and it is apples and oranges. There are two Different Things here. Sexuality is who you are personally attracted to who turns you on male or female but gender identity is how to do it with who you are as a person and your soul and who you identify with inside. Reporter were you as fair to the women you married. Not as fair as i should have been. Reporter when you look back and say i apologize for that. I have apologized to everybody. I have done nothing but apologize for my entire life. Reporter he was fighting the problem but falling apart. Hes approaching 40. Divorced for the second time his income falling off. Hes fighting depression. With the help of a therapist he makes a big decision to stop trying to run away. He begins transitioning in to a woman. A doctor prescribes female hormones estrogen and he says right away the intense daily feelings of fear and frustration subside. And remember this is back in the 80s, 30 years ago. God, i started on hormones. Reporter in the 80s you started . Oh yeah. Reporter how much did you do . How long did you do it . Almost five years. Reporter he starts to change his face getting surgery on his nose and electrolysis to remove his beard and hair on his chest but when he is transitioning in to a woman he says something stopped him. He simply lost his nerve. He looked at his little children and couldnt bear to cause them pain. Those are the only ones im concerned with and the only ones in my life they dont i cant allow i cant let myself hurt them. When we come back, bruce jenner says it took him 30 years to be honest with his famous children and step children about his true identity. Sharing how they reacted to his bombshell revelation and what he says they are doing to cope as a family. This is my body of proof. Proof of less joint pain. And clearer skin. This is my body of proof that i can fight Psoriatic Arthritis from the inside out. With humira. Humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. 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Shorten the distance between intuition and action. E trade opportunity is everywhere. You want me to pick just one . Yeah, right. I say if it looks tasty, order it. Because at red lobsters create your own seafood trio i can have it all. Choose 3 of 9 dishes for just 15. 99. Like the creamy baked lobster alfredo. And the sizzling brown butter shrimp scampi. And fresh soyginger salmon topped with sweet pineapple salsa. I could go on. But there are three things on one plate waiting for me and id rather just go wouldnt you . But hurry it cant last forever. There is no royal blood in this country. Nothing is reserved for anyone. Its all just out there. Waiting. For someone to reach out. And take it. And the ones who do. These are the kings and queens of america. Back now with Diane Sawyers exclusive interview with bruce jenner finally addressing his personal struggle. Tonight, explaining how he told his family about his secret starting with his now estranged wife kris who first arrived in bruces life he says like an angel. I had been on hormones for five years and it was a good solid 36 b something. You cant hiez those things. She goes okay. You like to wear womens clothes and im going well i kind of down played it some. Reporter did she ever see you dressed . Yeah. Reporter what did she say . Not much. Are you going to change now. Reporter he says from the start he was trying to make it work even though his torment about gender kept returning. You can fake it for a long time you can deal wit. You can have distractions in your life. Reporter like the explosion that occurred 16 years in to the marriage. Bruce jenner negotiated a deal for a reality show. Which became a financial juggernaut. Im bruce jenner and im a pushover for my family. Reporter the more the kardashians askrend sended the more it seemed bruce jenner drifted away. Someone wrote in esquire you were cast as the guy with the lose, after the show had been on the air several years he was in good financial shape again, his children almost grown up. In his 60s he said he could no longer endure the possibility that he might die only after liven in someone elses life. I couldnt take the walls constantly closing in on me. Reporter he knew he finally wanted to transition and we started to see clues that something was happening, the hair the fingernails, his marriage to kris cracked. Angry at you for it . Probably a little bit. Its not what she expected. Reporter it shook her, rocked her . It was tough on her. Reporter bruce jenner has six biological children. Burt and cassandra with first wife and his youngest kendall and kylie with third wife kris. Were you terrified to tell your children . Yes, every one of them. Reporter he says the first child he told was third born brandon, 33 a musician and famously gentle son. The secrets i could tell it was very difficult for him. Reporter whose heart was pounding harder yours or his . His for sure. Reporter when you think of how many years he spent grappling with this tragic. Reporter a few days later, we get a call. Its from all four of jenners older children saying they want to show up for their dad, too and say how brave he was telling them the truth. The first thing i thought was like, oh it finally makes sense. Reporter at this point, all of these children have now seen the person their father calls her. Dad said it is not that im trying to dress up like a woman. Its that i have spent my whole life dressing like a man. I think all of the traits that i loved about bruce, she still has. Reporter the four step children the kardashians also counted on him as dad. A few months ago he called in the girls and their brother rob in private to tell them he had made a decision. He wanted to transition in to a woman. They all cried. Mainly because they dont want anybody to hurt dad. Reporter any of them taking it hard . Khloe. Shes had the toughest time with it. Because shes had a lot of losses in her life. She lost her father at a young age. Lamar had his issues. Reporter at the time of the interview, jenner says his girls had been reluctant to see the person he calls her. With all of the girls, its tough on them. I understand that and i wouldnt rush that issue. Reporter not long ago, kim told him she had a kind of breakthrough about this new cross roads. A piece of advice from an inexpected source. She goes you know what really turned me around, kanye. I went oh okay. They were talking about it and he says to kim, look i can be married to the most beautiful woman in the world and i am. I can have the most beautiful little daughter in the world. I have that but im nothing if i cant be me. Reporter from kanye . From kanye, yeah. Yeah. And since then kimberly has been by far the most accepting. Reporter we want you to know we reached out to all of these girls. We heard from kendall and kylie who said we love our dad very much. He has the biggest heart and all we want is for him to be happy. If hes happy, were happy. Hes now been back on hormones for a year and a half. Standing in the kitchen with his son and daughter in law saying once again they have quieted that duel inside. There are certainly some physical changes to it but its just its mostly mentally. It just kind of takes the edge off. Reporter as for full surgery, the Transgender Community ask everyone respect privacy and to steer away. But in this interview, jenner talks about how he thinks about his decision. Theres no rush for that and i would do it so quietly nobody in the world would ever know as far as the term srs, sexual reassignment surgery would be down the line down the line. I just want to have a free soul and have a lot of great friends. Reporter hes so eager to get started, we wondered how will she look. Reporter can i come and see your closet . Of course you can. It is not a diane sawyer you know closet for right now. But in the next house, i am building a glam room oh. Reporter oh, you are . Oh yeah. Were going to totally rock this place. Reporter so you have two closets. Bruce. Very chic classy black outfit and the good news diane, you wont be the tallest girl in the room. Isnt that wonderful . Reporter its true. Well be right back with the thunder clap of reactions to the interview. Announcer this special edition of nightline is brought to you by progressive. Oh, i love game night. Ooh, its a house and a car so far, youre horrible at this, flo. Yeah, no talent for drawing, flo. House car oh, raise the roof no one . Remember when we used to raise the roof, diane . Oh, quiet, richard im trying to make sense of flos terrible drawing. Ill draw the pants off that thing. Oh, oh, hats on hamburgers dancing drivein Movie Theater home and auto. Lamp squares. Stupid, dumb. Lines. [ alarm rings ] no home and auto bundle from progressive. Saves you money. Yay, game night, so much fun. [leaves rustling] are you day dreaming . Hmm . Yeah. About a luxury tree house . Mmm hmm. With lookout decks for star gazing . Yeah. Cool wait. How. . Youve got the new instant game from the pennsylvania lottery. Oh yeah the wizard of oz with top prizes of 300,000. Theres a full moon tonight [male announcer] want to see your dreams come to life . You could scratch your way to instant winning. The pennsylvania lottery. Bring your dreams to life. If you have been glued to your tv tonight, theres a good chance bruce jenner may have had something to do with it. Hours after Diane Sawyers exclusive interview, viewers are in a fullblown social media frenzy frenzy bruce jenner is trending worldwide. His confessions generating explosive reactions online. So many joining in. Hundreds of thousands of people tweeting so far, using the bruce jenner abc. The kardashian clan weighing in tonight from kylie jenner admitting its been hard for her but saying shes so proud. To this from kris jenner. Not only was i able to call him husband for 25 years and father of my children i am now able to call him my hero. For other big names, snooki lady gaga, bravery was the common theme. Ellen tweeting he is saving lives and opening minds tonight. His decision is controversial but most applauding bruce jenner. The athlete, the father the husband, the person. And tonight, a towering example of self awareness. Our thanks to bruce jenner and diane sawyer. And entire abc team for sharing this remarkable story. Thanks for watching abc news. Much more coming up on Good Morning America and as always we are online on our Facebook Page and at abcnews. Com. Good night, america. And have a great weekend. [dramatic music] hey hey hey hey [cheers and applause] im terry crews, and im ready to start handing out the cash right here on millionaire. [cheers and applause] todays first contestant comes from a big greek family and is hoping today to get a paycheck to match. You think itd be all greek to him but hes ready to win the million. From flushing, new york, please welcome stel plakas. Whats up, terry . Hey, stel. How you doing . Good, man. Good. Good to see you. Doing very good. Now, you come from a huge greek family. How many people are we talking . Uh, talking about cousins uncles, aunts, just about 85north of. Yeah. 85 people. Now, hopefully thats not in the same house. No, no. We havewe have a few. Justwe spread them out a little bit. Well, we need to get you a million dollars. Well, i hope so. cause christmas is gonna be crazy. Yeah. All right. You ready to play . Im ready to play, terry. All right. Well, say hello to our millionaire money tree; 14 questions spread over 2 rounds with money values going from 100 bucks all the way up to 1 million. [cheers and applause]