Entertainment

Kim Kardashian says she supports Bruce Jenner's transition '100%'

Reality TV star Kim Kardashian says she and her family support her stepfather Bruce Jenner as he goes through gender transition, in an interview Monday on NBC's Today Show.

Reality TV star makes 1st public comments since her stepfather revealed he feels like a woman

Bruce Jenner, U.S. Olympic gold medal winner in the decathlon in 1976, arrives with his step-daughter Kim Kardashian at the 2006 ESPY Awards at Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California July 12, 2006. Kardashian spoke publicly on her stepfather's transformation for the first time Monday, saying she supports him '100 per cent.' (Robert Galbraith/Reuters)

Kim Kardashian says she and her family support her stepfather Bruce Jenner 100 per cent as he goes through gender transition, even though family members are still adjusting to that news in what she called "a daily process."

Can't see the video? Watch it here.

Her appearance on NBC's Today show Monday followed Jenner's much-watched interview Friday on ABC's 20/20 when he publicly declared that he identifies as a woman.

Kardashian said that in going public, Jenner has found "inner peace and just pure happiness."

She congratulated him for his ability to be his "true self." She said she is happy that he is living his life the way he wants to live it. "I support him 100 per cent," she said.

'Still an adjustment'

In her quest to be respectful of her stepfather's transition, Kardashian says she learned that Jenner prefers to be referred to with the male pronoun "him" until his transition to a woman is complete.

It's just one way her and her siblings are adapting the changes in her family. 

"I think there is still an adjustment," said Kardashian, who is married to rap star Kanye West, "and there is family therapy."

Jenner has six biological children and four step-children in the Kardashian family through his ex-wife Kris Jenner, the manager and mother of the stars in E! Entertainment's Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

'My brain is more female'

Nearly 17 million viewers watched Jenner, a gold medal-winning Olympic decathlete, reveal his struggles with gender identity on Friday, according to ratings company Nielsen. It was the biggest audience for ABC's 20/20 in 15 years.

“It's going to be an emotional roller coaster, but somehow I'll get through it," Bruce Jenner said in a promotional video ABC released ahead of its two-hour 20/20 interview special with Diane Sawyer. (ABC/YouTube)
"My brain is more female than it is male," said Jenner in the newscast.

He also described how his gender confusion factored in the breakup of his second marriage to actress Linda Thompson.

In an open letter published Saturday by The Huffington Post, Thompson described how she was "heartbroken" when Jenner admitted to her that he identified as a woman about four years into their marriage. 

"I mourned the death of my marriage, my man, and my dream of enjoying a lifetime of family togetherness," she wrote. "But I was also empathetic to, and mourned for, the pain that Bruce had experienced every day of his life."

Thompson and Jenner had two children during their marriage from 1981 to 1986.

Wider support

Family members aren't the only ones coming forward after Jenner's public admission.

GLAAD (the American organization formerly known as the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) released a statement expressing their support.

"Bruce Jenner has shined a light on what it means to be transgender and live authentically in the face of unimaginable public scrutiny," said GLAAD chief executive Sarah Kate Ellis. "Though Jenner's journey is one that is deeply personal, it is also one that will impact and inspire countless people around the world."

Meanwhile, Bruce Jenner fans in Australia have started a campaign to show their support for the 65-year-old.

​Men are painting their nails and posting the picture on social media, at the request of Sydney radio DJ's Kyle and Jackie O, of KIIS 1065 FM.

With files from CBC News