Bruce Jenner‘s second wife Linda Thompson is opening up after he confirmed his transition into a woman during an interview with Diane Sawyer.
The 64-year-old former actress wrote a piece for the Huffington Post titled “How Living With and Loving Bruce Jenner Changed My Life Forever.”
She chronicled her life with Bruce, including when they met, got married, and had kids (Brandon and Brody). When the boys were three years old and 18 months old, respectively, Bruce told her he was having identity struggles.
“Around that time 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,” Linda wrote. “I asked Bruce, ‘What about the children?’ He thought maybe he could reenter their lives as ‘Aunt Heather.’”
She later wrote, “If Bruce had told me about his gender issue when we first began getting romantically involved, I would not have married him. Pure and simple. But looking back, I’m so grateful to God, the universe, and Bruce that I didn’t know, and that Bruce played the role in my life that he did.”
Linda ended the piece, “After having harbored his secret, and feeling in my heart and mind that I have protected him through these years, I can now breathe a little easier, knowing he now has found the strength and the courage to fulfill his dream. He can finally realize his need to be who he authentically is, who he was born to be. That takes tremendous courage. For that I commend him.”
To read the full essay, head over to HuffingtonPost.com.
