Bruce Jenner’s Second Wife Opens Up About Their Marriage

In a new article Bruce's second wife Linda Thompson has revealed what it was like to find out that the star was hiding his gender dysphoria. The pair were married between 1981 and 1986 during which time they had two sons together. Describing their relationship in a piece entitled 'How living with and loving Bruce Jenner changed my life,' Linda said: 'Those were the happiest days of my life. I had a wonderful husband, who was the most athletic, high-spirited, energetic, easygoing, manly man imaginable.'

However, eventually Bruce was to confess his true feelings to Linda - a move which eventually resulted in the end of their marriage. She said: 'Bruce told me that he identified as a woman. Not understanding exactly what he meant, I questioned him. ‘What do you mean you identify as a woman?’ I asked. ‘What does that mean?’ He replied that it meant that for as long as he could remember, he had looked in the mirror and seen a masculine image staring back at him where there should have been a feminine reflection. Bruce lamented, ‘I have lived in the wrong skin, the wrong body, my whole life. It is a living hell for me, and I really feel that I would like to move forward with the process of becoming a woman, the woman I have always been inside.'

Linda continued: 'Being married to a woman was not what I had envisioned for my life. I was so heartbroken that I would get in my car day and night and aimlessly drive up and down Pacific Coast Highway, crying. I mourned the death of my marriage, my man, and my dream of enjoying a lifetime of family togetherness. But I was also empathetic to, and mourned for, the pain that Bruce had experienced every day of his life.'

She said, 'As earth-shattering as his confession had been for me, pulling the proverbial rug out from under my world, Bruce's struggle made mine pale in comparison. I now had to ‘man up,’ support Bruce and his decisions regarding his own body, take care of my sons, and move on with my life…My hope and my prayer is that humanity has evolved enough and been properly educated to exercise kindness toward those who have struggled or who we may perceive to be ‘different.’'

Linda said that she waited for Bruce to speak out as she wanted him to have the opportunity to give 'his truth,' to the world. Linda also shared a picture of herself with the former athlete to her Twitter account along with his other former wife Chrystie. Maybe Kris' invite got lost in the post...