(Ryan Pfluger/Out/Instagram)
Caitlyn Jenner has been named “Newsmaker of the Year” on Out magazine’s 2015 “Out 100″ list.
Jenner’s interview with the outlet was conducted just after a judge legally recognized her transition from male to female. “Yesterday was significant, because my name and gender change came through. Holy crap,” she exclaims. “Here we are — honestly never knowing if this day would ever come.”
Jenner admits, “In some ways, it’s a little sad. Bruce was a good guy, did a lot of good things, raised a tremendous family and wonderful kids. But I just couldn’t play that game any longer.” The official news sparked an emotional reaction, with the star revealing, “I actually cried a little bit about it. I was on the golf course, off playing by myself. It was very exciting, but such a head trip.”
In Jenner’s eyes, she first joined the transgender community with her Vanity Fair cover, and she acknowledges it hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing since then. Looking back on her pre-and post-transition experiences, she recalls that before coming out, “I’ve never, ever been able to talk to anybody. I didn’t meet my first trans person until I did the show. The only connection I had was watching YouTube videos. And during the ’70s and ’80s, and even through the ’90s, there wasn’t any of that.”
“Just like anybody going through a transition, people find it hard to make the difference between ‘he’ and ‘she’ and gender markers and name changes,” she continues. “It’s tough for me to realize that finally, after all of this time, I’m part of the community. People want results right now. And all this stuff takes time.”
Jenner expresses excitement at all that’s still to come. She tells Out, “I always thought that I want to wake up in the morning excited about the day, excited that I have things to do, things to accomplish, things to learn. I want to be excited about life always. For the longest time, I was not. I isolated myself from the world. I never felt like I fit in anywhere.”
“Today that’s all changed. I’m so terribly excited about the future. I have so many things to do. I feel like I have a place in life,” she says. Joining Jenner on this year’s “Out 100″ are “I Am Cait” co-star Candis Cayne and transgender model Andreja Pejic, along with Raven-Symone, Cynthia Nixon, Carrie Brownstein, Lee Daniels, Brad Goreski, Abby Wambach, and Lily Tomlin. Tell us what you think of the honor below.
