Caitlyn Jenner: Why Revealing Her True Self Is Better Than Winning Olympic Gold

Getty, Annie Leibovitz Exclusively for Vanity Fair

It’s hard to imagine that something could feel better than winning a gold medal, but for Caitlyn Jenner, seeing her ‘true self’ was exactly that — better!

Caitlyn Jenner, 65, wants everyone to know that she has a new top moment in her life: being herself. Although it was her male persona, Bruce Jenner, who won gold at the 1976 Olympics, she revealed in her Vanity Fair cover story that seeing herself al glammed up for her “coming out” photoshoot was “absolutely amazing.”

“That was a sporting event,” Caitlyn explained as she opened up about how the two moments are so different, but yet so alike. “The last few days is about life, O.K., about living your life. About being true to yourself.”

When asked how — or better yet, why — Bruce participated in the games while he was hiding Caitlyn from the rest of the world, she explained that he “was probably at the games because I was running away from a lot of things, O.K., very, very, proud of the accomplishment, I don’t want to diminish that accomplishment, but the last few days in doing this shoot was about my life and who I am as a person.”

For Caitlyn, being on the cover of Vanity Fair and finally being herself for the world to see was not about “fanfare” like running in the Olympics was for Bruce. “This is about your life and about who you are. And the last few days have been absolutely amazing, you know, I never thought, you know, that some day I’d be able to do this.”

In fact, as the interview goes on, Caitlyn explains that she really never thought she would finally get to see herself as, well, herself.

“[During the shoot] I had this one time where I had not had a mirror behind me and they put this mirror up behind when I was doing this shoot. I had this rocking black outfit on, formal outfit, and I kind of, from a distance, looked in the mirror and I felt, ‘Oh, my God.’ That’s the first time I’d ever really seen an image of me, of who I am.” How incredible is that?

Tell us, HollywoodLifers — Are you surprised to hear that being Caitlyn is a bigger moment than winning gold as Bruce? Comment below with your thoughts!

— Lauren Cox
Follow @Iaurencox