How Caitlyn Jenner went from an Olympic gold medalist and reality star to aspiring politician

Jenner, who had dabbled in water skiing and basketball in her athletic career, tried her hand at Olympic decathlon (a grueling athletic event that combines 10 track-and-field events like the 100-meter-dash, high jump, pole vault, and javelin throw) twice.

In 1972, Jenner didn't perform quite as well as she might have hoped, placing 10th in the decathlon.

To make sure she fared better four years later in 1976, she trained under several top athletes, including Al Feuerbach, who at the time held the world record in shot put, and the Olympic gold-medalist sprinter Millard Hampton, according to the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

Her hard work paid off: She went on to win the gold medal for decathlon in the 1976 Olympics, and her success cemented her status as one of the greatest American athletes of all time.

"I do know that if I win and I handle myself well," Jenner told Sports Illustrated before her 1976 win, "I can work off it for years and years."

Jenner and Scott got married in 1972 and had two children together — Burt and Cassandra.

Scott was a permanent fixture by Jenner's side throughout her Olympic career and was frequently snapped in pictures with her.

Frank Deford wrote for Sports Illustrated in 1976 that Jenner came to the Olympics that year "equipped with a pretty blonde wife in a tight-fitting T-shirt, who cried tears of happiness and told lyric tales of her husband in California Gothic."

According to the publication, Jenner met Scott (nee Crownover), a minister's daughter, at Graceland University.

Deford reported that after Jenner wrapped the final sprint of the 1976 decathlon — making her victory official — Scott "struggled" to break through a crowd of police and fans to reach her partner. When they finally made their way to each other, they hugged.

The couple separated when Scott was pregnant with Cassandra and later divorced in 1981.

While not much is publicly known about Cassandra, Burt, Jenner's oldest child, is a race-car driver and father of two.

In 1978, the all-around American superstar was photographed on the cereal box, which said "fueling American champions for decades," in her Olympics shorts and numbered jersey.

Jenner was also the spokesperson for the cereal company from 1977 to 1979, during which time she appeared in a commercial as well.

Jenner was married to Thompson (who was Elvis Presley's girlfriend for a while) from 1981 to 1986, and they had two sons together.

In a 2016 interview with "Entertainment Tonight," Thompson described Jenner as "wonderful, athletic, down to earth, free and easygoing" in the early years of their relationship and added that the two had come to share a "cordial" relationship in which they saw each other from time to time.

Thompson and Jenner are parents to Brandon, a musician, and Brody, a social-media influencer, who appeared on the MTV reality show "The Hills." The two also later appeared on "Keeping Up With The Kardashians."

Jenner's most popular movie role was in the widely panned 1980 musical "Can't Stop the Music." According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jenner played a lawyer who becomes friends with a bunch of musicians.

Her costar Steve Guttenberg told the publication that he's Jenner's "biggest supporter and lifelong friend."

After her movie debut in "Can't Stop the Music," Jenner appeared in several TV shows and movies in the '80s, including "Murder She Wrote."

The couple met on a blind date in 1990 and dated for five months before getting married.

Kris told HuffPost in 2012 that the two bonded over their shared love for motorcycles and meatloaf, which she said Jenner ordered on their first date.

The wedding took place a month after Kris finalized her divorce from her ex-husband, the lawyer Robert Kardashian (with whom she shared four children — Kim, Kourtney, Khloé, and Robert Jr.).

They got married in a friend's backyard, and Jenner gave Kris an engagement ring on their 20th wedding anniversary.

The two were married for 23 years and have two daughters together, Kendall and Kylie Jenner.

Kendall is a supermodel, while Kylie founded a lucrative beauty and cosmetics line.

"Keeping up with the Kardashians" ran for 20 seasons and catapulted the Kardashian-Jenner family to superstardom that extends far beyond reality TV.

The show, which is coming to an end this year, documented the family's lives as they experienced professional milestones (like growing a billion-dollar empire and gaining hundreds of millions of social-media followers) as well as personal ones (like births, new relationships, and divorces).

Jenner was a series regular until season 13 and is back for an appearance in the final season, airing now.

"Over the 10 years I did the show, I really enjoyed doing the show," Jenner told "Entertainment Tonight" in March.

"We went through a lot together. I think I had probably some of the best conversations with my kids on camera," she continued. "A lot of times, you know, things happen and as a parent, you're going, 'Oh, I better talk to the kid about that,' and you just don't do it as quickly."

"It's uncomfortable," she added. "But with the show, you have to talk to them about it, like, right now, and so I think it really brought the family much closer."

Even though the Jenners had a rocky relationship in the years following their divorce, which was documented on "KUWTK," Jenner told People in September that the separation itself wasn't particularly dramatic.

Jenner said that while she might have had a "shorter" temper toward the end of their marriage, "all of a sudden, we didn't have any issues, it was calm."

On February 7, 2015, Jenner crashed into another vehicle that, as a result of the impact, collided with another car.

Kim Howe, a 69-year-old who was driving the car Jenner crashed into, died from injuries sustained in the crash. Howe hit a car carrying five people (the Wolf-Millesi family), including an infant, which left one person in that car with serious injuries, including a fractured spine.

Almost three years after the crash, Jenner was ordered to pay $800,000 in settlements to the Wolf-Millesi family.

In a lawsuit, however, Jenner blamed paparazzi for the crash, arguing that they "stalked" and "harassed" her into driving a certain way that night and that the agencies should be partially responsible for the money Jenner was ordered to pay the victims.

It's unclear whether that suit has been dropped or otherwise resolved.

Representatives for Jenner didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment regarding the car crash.

The interview, which also included chats with Jenner's family members, gave an intimate look at the former Olympian's life over the years.

"People look at me differently. They see me as a macho male," Jenner told Sawyer on "20/20." "But my heart and my soul, that female side, is part of me, that's who I am. I was not genetically born that way."

"I hate that terminology 'girl stuck in a guy's body,'" she added. "I'm me, I'm a person, this is who I am. I'm not stuck in anyone's body, it's just who I am."

She also said that she was "never attracted to guys."

Jenner told Sawyer that when she was younger she would try on her mother's and sister's outfits.

"I marked the closet so when I put it back I could put ... everything back in the exact same spot so I wouldn't get caught," she said.

Jenner said that she knew she was a trans woman at a young age and that her first wife, Chrystie Scott, was the first person she confided in.

After Jenner's interview with Sawyer aired on ABC, her former wives spoke out, each expressing support.

Scott said Jenner told her she was a trans woman soon after their 1972 wedding.

"It was such a shock to me," Scott told "Good Morning America," adding: "Understandably, I was speechless. I didn't really know what to say."

She added that despite her shock, she "was really pleased" that Jenner trusted Scott with what Scott called her "deepest, darkest secret."

Linda Thompson wrote a lengthy post about their relationship for HuffPost, documenting their courtship, marriage, the birth of their sons, and their subsequent estrangement.

She also wrote that about three years into their marriage, Jenner told her she was a trans woman. They went to couples' therapy for six months before separating.

"Being married to a woman was not what I had envisioned for my life," Thompson wrote.

She added: "It's impossible for those of us who are comfortable living in our own skin to fully grasp what an imprisonment that must feel like to be born into the wrong body."

Kris Jenner called Jenner a "hero" in a tweet.

Jenner's mother, Esther, said that while it was a "surprise" when she first found out Jenner was transgender, she said she would "always love" Jenner.

People outside Jenner's immediate circle also wanted to show the former Olympic hero their support, and her iconic 1978 Wheaties box started selling for several hundred dollars on resale websites like eBay.

A few months after her Diane Sawyer interview, Jenner, photographed by Annie Leibovitz, appeared on the June cover of Vanity Fair magazine. "Call Me Caitlyn," the cover said.

Jenner appeared onstage in a floor-length white gown and gave a tearful speech while accepting the Arthur Ashe Award for courage.

"If you want to call me names, make jokes, and doubt my intentions, go ahead because the reality is I can take it," she said. "But for thousands of kids out there coming to terms with the reality of who they are, they shouldn't have to take it."

A few days after her ESPY appearance, "I Am Cait," a docuseries about Jenner's life since coming out, debuted on E!. It was canceled after two seasons.

When news of the cancellation broke, Jenner tweeted that she was looking forward to her "next adventure."

In March, Jenner appeared on the fifth season of the Fox singing competition "The Masked Singer," in which celebrities compete while wearing elaborate costumes that keep their identities a secret.

She told Entertainment Weekly that she had been approached once earlier to join the show as a contestant but that she had declined because it didn't feel very on-brand for her. But, with the coronavirus pandemic, she said, she decided to take the plunge because she had "nothing but time."

"So I said yes. Then I panicked a little bit. 'Oh my God, I've got to sing and dance!'" Jenner told the publication. "And, yeah, it was a big time commitment. It was a lot of work."

Jenner was eliminated from the show in the second episode of the season.

Jenner is running for governor of California in a recall election against the Democratic incumbent, Gavin Newsom, who won the position in 2018.

"California has been my home for nearly 50 years. I came here because I knew that anyone, regardless of their background or station in life, could turn their dreams into reality," Jenner's campaign website says.

"But for the past decade, we have seen the glimmer of the Golden State reduced by one-party rule that places politics over progress and special interests over people," the statement continued. "Sacramento needs an honest leader with a clear vision."