Brandon Jenner is coming clean about his extremely strained relationship with father Caitlyn Jenner.
Things are apparently much better now (we’ll get to that below), but it’s eye-opening to hear just how much of a ghost the I Am Cait star was in her now-37-year-old son’s life for nearly two full decades.
Related: Would Caitlyn Actually Join The ‘Real Housewives’??
The singer-songwriter has Caitlyn on the brain now because of a collection of essays compiled by author Joshua David Stein and titled To Me He Was Just Dad: Stories Of Growing Up With Famous Fathers. Brandon penned his own thoughtful, powerful essay and contributed it to the project — and in doing so, revealed a few things we never knew about the now 70-year-old former Olympic athlete.
Recalling how Caitlyn’s (then Bruce‘s) desire to transition ended the Olympian’s five-year marriage to Linda Thompson in 1986, Brandon was brutally honest about the fallout from that divorce. And innerestingly enough, what followed when his father ultimately decided not to transition at that time was the worst part for the young man — a near-complete estrangement from Dad:
“A few years after my parents divorced, Dad apparently decided that it wasn’t the right time to transition and had many of his surgeries reversed. After that, his relationship with my mother [Linda Thompson] grew more hostile. She had worked hard to accept that the reason he couldn’t be with her was because he was working towards transitioning. When he started dating Kris Jenner, whom he would go on to marry, that line of reasoning fell apart. It was tremendously painful. The effect of my parents’ souring relationship was that I didn’t see my father more than half a dozen times between ages eight and 25.”
Wow. Six times in 17 years?! That’s like… slightly more than once every three years??
Caitlyn has long made clear her transition intentions were decades in the making, but it’s fascinating to hear how things happened three decades ago behind the scenes, only to be overturned, reversed, and hushed up. The after-effects on the former athlete must have been intense, but not much has been reported about the emotional toll on Brandon and little bro Brody Jenner.
There’s at least something of a happy ending here, though; as Caitlyn began the final, public process of transitioning fully several years ago, it came on the heels of rebuilding her relationship with Brandon. And when the time to transition came, the Princes of Malibu star was “the first of her children she confided in” about the decision. Brandon wrote:
“As soon as Dad said it herself, I was so happy for her. As her son, I wish my dad had been able to transition sooner, not only because I think she would have been happier, but because I think we could have built a stronger relationship earlier. Now, I’m making up for lost time.”
Definitely an overly optimistic way to look at things, but Brandon clearly wants to make the most of whatever time he has left with his Dad. Can’t hate on that!
Reactions, Perezcious readers? Sound off with your take on all this down in the comments (below)…
[Image via WENN/Instar]
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