Caitlyn Jenner Blogs About Conquering Her Fears At The ESPYs
Posted on Mon Jul 20th, 2015 1:40pm PDT By X17 Staff
We love how her story is unfolding!
Caitlyn Jenner made history when she accepted the Arthur Ashe Courage award at last Sunday's ESPYs, and now the transgender reality star is opening up about the momentous occasion in her life in a new WhoSay blog post.
The E! star explained how Donatella Versace personally called and asked to dress her, and revealed how nervous she was to take the stage in a gown. "Of course I was nervous about tripping as I walked up to the stage! That gown was long and tough. Abby Wambach actually helped me up to make sure I didn't trip. She did a great job with the introduction and I want to thank her for doing that. She was so excited. I told her beforehand, 'Abby, we have to have this picture of the two of us up there on stage – you in a tux and me in a Versace gown. THAT is the picture of the ESPYs right there.' When I came up on stage, we stood there, held hands, and took a little bow. It was fun. It kind of lightened things up a bit," she said.
Even more frightening for Cait was reading the speech off the teleprompter, because she grew up with dyslexia.
"Reading my speech off of the teleprompter was a whole other story. As I was a dyslexic kid, my biggest fear in life was to go in front of the class and read because I just wasn't very good at it – and that stays with you through your whole life. That's why all of my speaking engagements through the years have been always off-the-cuff. I'm better off getting up there knowing what I'm going to say and doing it. But at the ESPYs, I really had to stick to the prompter because I only had a certain number of minutes to make it right, to get my points across. I practiced and practiced and practiced and practiced to make sure I'd nail it," she confessed.
The 65-year-old watched the show on TV after her acceptance, and while she was mostly pleased, she admits her masculine voice is still an insecurity.
"I left the festivities early so that I could actually watch the ESPYs because it's three hours delayed here in California. It was a little difficult for me to watch myself. While I felt like I looked great and that the gown looked fabulous, I still have a voice issue. It's not quite right compared to my feminine appearance. That bothers me a little bit. However, I hope that people don't listen to the pitch of my voice, but listen to what I have to say. That's important to me," she pleaded.
Her bravery is truly remarkable!