The July cover of Vanity Fair invites the world to meet Caitlyn Jenner, formerly known as Bruce Jenner, for the very first time. This is a very big moment.
The cover was shot by Annie Leibovitz in Jenner’s Malibu home, and the story was written by Buzz Bissinger, who was, Vanity Fair says, “given unfettered access to Jenner and her family.” It is the first time we’ve seen Jenner as Caitlyn and learned her name, which subverts her famous reality-TV family’s trend of women with K first names. Jenner’s transition was previously discussed in her ABC interview with Diane Sawyer, during which the Olympic decathlete and 1976 gold medalist declared that she had always identified as a woman, and would transition to female.
The Sawyer interview was great, avoiding the typical Kardashian treatment to instead tell the human story of Jenner’s transition and truly give America a primer on gender identity. At the time Jenner still identified as male, and the only snippet we saw into what Caitlyn would become was via a dress that Jenner showed Sawyer on air. This cover is the first time we’ve been introduced to Caitlyn, who looks phenomenal, and is now an American hero twice over. [Vanity Fair]