Mom, meet Caitlyn! Jenner family matriarch Esther Jenner reacted to Caitlyn Jenner‘s debut as a woman on the July 2015 cover of Vanity Fair on Monday, June 1.
“She’s beautiful!” Kylie and Kendall’s grandmother, 88, told Access Hollywood.
“I was there last week, well, actually, I got home a week and a half ago,” Esther continued. “And I met Caitlyn. She is… so much more at ease.”
Caitlyn’s mom added that she planned to call her child by her birth name — for now. “I still have to call him Bruce,” Esther told Access Hollywood. “His father and I named him that.”
Esther said it was just a matter of transitioning on her end, too. “It’s going to be a struggle for me to get used to the change,” she confessed, “but happily so… I’m very happy for him — or her!”
The cover released on Monday by Vanity Fair featured the former decathlete in a tiny corset, confidently posing against a mirrored wall as she revealed her new self.
While Caitlyn has already drawn comparisons to actress Jessica Lange, Esther claimed that her child looked like another member of the Jenner clan. “You know who she reminds me of?” Esther told the program. “My granddaughter, Samantha. There is a lot of Sam!” (Caitlyn has two sisters, Lisa and Pam.)
Along with Esther, other Kardashian and Jenner family members have publicly supported Caitlyn and her stunning cover via social media. “How beautiful!” Kim Kardashian tweeted. “Be happy, be proud, live life YOUR way!” Her sisters Khloe, Kourtney, Kendall, and Kylie expressed similar sentiments.
“Be free now pretty bird,” Kendall wrote.
In the profile, Caitlyn discussed her life prior to transitioning. “Bruce always had to tell a lie,” the 65 year old recalled of her previous persona to Friday Night Lights author and journalist Buzz Bissinger. “He was always living that lie. Every day he always had a secret from morning ’til night… Caitlyn doesn’t have any secrets. Soon as the Vanity Fair cover comes out, I’m free.”
