Everyone wants to know more about Caitlyn Jenner—even Reese Witherspoon!
It was the Olympian's initial interview with Diane Sawyer (which first aired Apr. 25) that piqued the Oscar winner's interest. She wasn't the only one, either. As Caitlyn, 65, told Vanity Fair contributing editor Buzz Bissinger, the public reaction to the ABC News special "was absolutely amazing."
(With the release of her Vanity Fair cover on June 1, Caitlyn has chosen to publicly identify as a woman and E! News will refer to her using female pronouns. In stories published prior to this date, Caitlyn was referred to as Bruce and male pronouns were used.)
"Even Mark, who is the producer on Diane's piece, says, 'Well, I had breakfast with Reese Witherspoon this morning and she couldn't stop talking about you. All she wants to do is meet you,'" said Caitlyn. "She never wanted to meet Bruce, you know, but Caitlyn it is. It's just that's the way people are, and I understand that."
"Honestly, since the Diane Sawyer piece, every day it's like, it's exciting to go to the mailbox...Because I get letters every day from all of these people from all over the world," she went on. "I've gotten a lot from trans women, and telling their story and telling how excited they were to see the Diane piece. And so for non-trans people, just regular people who watched the games and now they see this, they're just so proud of you."
"But I so appreciate those things," Caitlyn told Vanity Fair. "I mean, I read every one of them, a lot of them I answer; in fact, the other night I got a letter from a trans woman in New York and she had so many interesting things to say, but at the end she left her telephone number, so I called her..I think she was very surprised I called. So I called her because for me, I am, I don't, I'm new to this community..."
Caitlyn wanted "to learn about the people," she said, "and here's this lady living in New York state, she actually works in an operating room, transitioned 15 years ago, doing very well in her life, but obviously went through hell to get there, and I want to know these stories so I can—I have a platform that's so large, how can I use that to make this better? And the only way I could do that is to talk to people."
The ladies were on the phone "probably close to 45 minutes," said Caitlyn. "Actually I think I woke her up, because it was East Coast, it was three hours later. I think she was sleeping, and then I woke her up and she kind of was a little groggy, and I told her it was me and I got your letter, and I'd love to talk to you; and boy, she woke right up, and we talked for 45 minutes and she was so interesting."