SECRET 50-YEAR HEARTACHE
BY KELLY ALLEN I’M A Celebrity star Caitlyn Jenner is being spurred on in the jungle by heartache she’s carried for more than 50 years.
The 70-year-old former Olympian was left distraught when her beloved younger brother Burt was killed aged 18 – in a Porsche she had lent him.
Speaking about the tragedy, she said: “For an 18-year-old kid who’s just graduated from high school, few things in life, if anything, are sweeter than tooling around town in a Porsche 911.”
The accident happened three months after Caitlyn, then known as Bruce, broke the decathlon world record at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
Hailed as the world’s greatest athlete, the gold medallist returned to her parents’ home in Canton, Connecticut, for a testimonial dinner and speaking event at his old high school.
A car dealership lent the sports car to Caitlyn, which she let her younger brother drive to fill up with petrol before they returned it later that day.
Burt took his 16-year-old friend, Judith Hutchings, with him on the mile-long drive on a “road he has driven hundreds of times”.
Caitlyn realised something was wrong when as she was finishing her speech, three policemen came into the back of the hall and asked to speak to the family privately.
Caitlyn explained: “Burt has taken the Porsche on Old Canton Road. Because the road was old, it was narrow and curvy.
“There was a rise, and Burt took it too fast. The Porsche went airborne and then crooked.
“It hit a tree and then a rock wall of sizable boulders. Hutchings was flung from the car and killed instantly. Burt suffered critical injuries.”
The Jenner family had to make the unimaginable decision to turn off Burt’s life-support.
The accident was made more painful for the then 26-year-old as her younger brother was set to move to LA to live with Bruce and first wife, Chrystie.
Burt’s bags were lined up in his bedroom ready for a flight to California.
Writing in her autobiography The Secrets Of My Life, the reality star said: “I have struggled with guilt.
“What if I had never taken the car from the dealer? What if I had never lent it to Burt?
“Why did he pick up an innocent young woman who had her whole life in front of her? Why did he drive so carelessly?”
Caitlyn – who came out as transgender in April 2015 after her divorce from third wife Kris Jenner – had struggled with gender dysphoria in childhood.
“Never in my life have I ever beat myself up about it,” she writes.
“It is a mechanism of
TORN APART Jenner family Burt, Bruce and their sisters Lisa and Pam. Burt, right.
STEEL Caitlyn Jenner protection, I know, but I have come to the conclusion that it was Burt’s day to die, just as, on the beaches of Normandy, it was my father’s day not to. “It was the way it was. The accident had a fate and will of its own: two people tragically lost their lives, and my brother was the one responsible.
“The floodgates open and am done.” The jungle favourite named her first-born son Burt in honour of her brother’s memory. A pal said: “Caitlyn has already had to deal with so much in her lifetime. “Losing her brother was a really painful time in her life but she got through it. She is made of tough stuff and she’s bringing that attitude to the jungle with her.” I’m A Celebrity continues tonight at 9pm on ITV1.
I
Roman Kemp Zero to hero after rowing with Adele and then smashing a trial with her.
Seems to be winning fans and growing in confidence.
James Haskell He slept on the floor rather than Kate give up her bed.
Brilliant trial performance should mean she doesn’t have early exit.
Ian Wright He loved his hammock and his campmates love him.
Her sing-song with Adele and Jac showed her as a girl’s girl.
Myles Stephenson
Got to dress up as a pigeon and his role as cook has him off to a flying start.
Relatively quiet night but she will be there until near the end.
Kate Garraway Not much stress and is enjoying the banter with the boys.
Limited airtime and humour. As a comedian, that is no joke.