Bruce Jenner To Laverne Cox: My Interview Was Like Winning ‘Another Gold Medal’

Aww! After courageously coming out as transgender during an emotional sit down with Diane Sawyer, Bruce Jenner is receiving tons of praise from the trans community; namely, ‘Orange Is The New Black’ star Laverne Cox. The actress shared some sweet sentiments for Bruce after his groundbreaking interview.

In the months before Bruce Jenner, 65, publicly announced to the world that he is transgender, he forged a friendship with Laverne Cox, 30, a vocal advocate for the trans community. Laverne, who became a prominent face for the transgender movement after she appeared on the cover of TIME magazine’s “The Transgender Tipping Point” issue, now believes Bruce could have just as much impact. Check out what Laverne had to say!

Bruce Jenner Told Laverne Cox ’20/20′ Interview Was ‘Another Gold Medal’

With 17 million people watching, Bruce broke records while revealing all to Diane Sawyer, 69, about his brave male-to-female transition. One incredibly impressed viewer? Laverne!

“I think a lot of people tuned in expecting to see a spectacle, and they tuned in and saw a profoundly nuanced, complicated, beautiful human being,” the Netflix star told MSNBC’s Live Shift of Bruce’s interview at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday, April 25. “I thought ABC handled it really beautifully. I had spoken to Bruce several months back. The same person who I spoke to on the phone, who really just loves their children so much and wants their family to be happy was the person I saw on television last night.”

“What Bruce said to me today, I was like, ‘This is like another gold medal,’ and they said, ‘This is better than a gold medal,’” the 30-year-old added.

While she thinks Bruce’s special will surely inspire change, Laverne believes that there is still a lot more work to be done in the trans community.

“Bruce’s story is very specific,” she explained. “Most trans people don’t have that kind of privilege. At the end of the day, the visibility that I had last year and continue to have, didn’t save Blake Brockington from suicide, didn’t save Leelah Alcorn from suicide, didn’t save the seven trans women who were murdered the first eight weeks of this year. So visibility matters, but structural change and policy change is what needs to happen so the lives of all trans people will be better.”

Kim Kardashian: How Bruce Jenner Walked Us Through His Transition

Before Laverne offered her kind words for Bruce, one of the former Olympian’s biggest supporters has been his stepdaughter Kim Kardashian, 34. In his big interview, Bruce revealed that the mom to North West, has been the “most supportive” of the Kardashian sisters.

“I love having so many siblings and such a supportive mom because, you know, each family member might be dealing with this in a different way,” the reality star told TODAY show anchor, Matt Lauer. “But we have each other to go through this experience with. And I’m really grateful for that. Bruce has always been really, really good at explaining everything to us. And these have been newer feelings — not newer feelings for him, but for us to digest… He’s done a really good job at walking us through it.”

HollywoodLifers — what do YOU think of Kim and Laverne’s support for Bruce’s interview? Do you agree with everything Laverne had to say about it? Let us know!

— Evan Real