Post-split post-mortem. Kaitlynn Jenner delves into her split from Brody Jenner this August in the same Elle essay in which she describes falling in love with Miley Cyrus.
Carter, 31, begins by describing her happier times with Jenner, 36. “At 25, I met the man I would eventually choose to marry,” she writes. “The legitimacy of that marriage has become a matter of public debate, but for he and I, it was very real.” (Carter and Jenner exchanged wedding vows in Indonesia in June 2018, but after their split, a source told Us Weekly the pair never obtained a marriage license in the United States.)
“He was quite possibly the most beautiful man on the planet, with a heart of gold and a tireless sense of adventure,” Carter writes of the Hills: New Beginnings star. “I was drawn to his spirit. ‘You’ll never be bored!’ my mom offered, as I wondered early on whether or not he was the right partner for me. Of course, she was right: I was never bored. He became my best friend, and together we had all the fun the world had to offer.”
Then came the tough times: “Eventually though, after years of constant ‘excitement,’ we found we’d done as much growing apart as we’d done growing up,” she recalls. “I began to spend a lot of time traveling on my own or with friends, quietly mourning what I knew in my heart would soon be the end of my marriage.”
A week after Carter and Jenner announced their split, the blogger was spotted kissing Cyrus, 26, and Carter details this “first and only romance with a woman” in the Elle essay. “I didn’t have to think about a thing or overanalyze,” she explains. “It just happened and it felt exactly right. Reflecting back on our three-year friendship, I realized I’d always been drawn to her in a way I wasn’t with other friends, but until that trip it had never crossed my mind to think of her in a romantic sense.”
Carter and Cyrus split in September, and the “Slide Away” singer later moved on with Cody Simpson. “While it was short-lived, I’ll remain eternally grateful to my most recent relationship for opening my eyes to this unexplored part of myself, and for inspiring a new level of self-discovery and wonder at all the possibilities of life,” Carter writes.
She goes on: “Although the relationship with my friend was often referenced in the media as merely a ‘summer fling’ or a ‘same-sex affair,’ it was so much more than that. This was a profound journey of self-discovery. For the first time, I listened to myself, forgot about the ‘norm,’ and lived. I hope that everyone, when given the chance, takes the time to understand who exactly their most authentic selves are, untethered from what we may have been taught to believe.”
