Caitlyn Jenner's longtime friend Kathie Lee Gifford is opening up about her gender transition.
On Tuesday morning's episode of the Today show, Gifford sounded off on Caitlyn's headline-making Vanity Fair cover and also gave an update on how her BFF Kris Jenner is handling the transition.
"There is a sense of ‘Bye Bruce.' Because he was an iconic figure. He represented who goes on a Wheaties box," the 61-year-old told co-host Hoda Kotb. "And I loved Bruce—and I still love Bruce—and I'm going to learn to love Caitlyn...I've only spoken to her, but I have not been in a room with her. So when I was talking to her on the phone maybe a month ago before the Diane Sawyer thing, it still sounded like my friend Bruce, even though what we were talking about was about the transitioning."
Gifford, who has known Caitlyn since 1982, continued, "I'm glad that she is being treated as lovingly in the public with this because it does take a lot of courage to do what she's doing. But it also is a very difficult process for the family. You just have to put yourself in their shoes. You can celebrate one person's triumph and also be aware that it's something that other people are dealing with very uniquely and differently and privately in their own ways. And I'm just hoping that grace will be our guiding force with this and that people will continue to be kind."
Gifford explained that she believes our human bodies are only temporary and that it's our inner souls that God created to live forever. "That being that God created was not a mistake, and God loves that person however she sees herself," Gifford said.
"The good news about all of this is it's really sparked a discussion of it," Gifford concluded. "I think it will help many people who have gender issues, they're not going to feel alone."
(E! and Today are both part of the NBCUniversal family)