Kim Kardashian 'Was Shaking' Learning Caitlyn Jenner's Secret 12 Years Before the Rest of the World

Cailyn Jenner and Kim Kardashian (Splash News)
Cailyn Jenner and Kim Kardashian (Splash News)

In her Rolling Stone cover story, out Friday, Kim Kardashian talks about seeing her stepfather dressed as a woman for the first time — 12 years ago, when she was 22.

"I'd heard a rumor when I was 11 or 12 that he was caught cross-dressing," she says. But the selfie queen didn't see it with her own eyes until 10 years later, when she accidentally walked on the then-Bruce Jenner wearing women's clothes in the family's garage.

"I was shaking," she tells the magazine. "I didn’t know if I’d just found out his deepest, darkest secret, and he was going to come after me. I grabbed my duffel bag... ran out to the car."

In her first interview where she confirmed that she was transgender, Caitlyn Jenner told Diane Sawyer that Kim, Kylie Jenner, and Kendall Jenner had all seen her in women's clothes before she told them she was trans.

Kim Kardashian (Terry Richardson for Rolling Stone)
Kim Kardashian (Terry Richardson for Rolling Stone)

Talking to Rolling Stone, Kim says she and Caitlyn only spoke about it once: on the phone a half hour later. Kim says Jenner told her, "'One day, I’ll talk to you about this. Until then, don’t tell a soul.' I said, 'OK.'"

It wasn't until eight years later, in 2011, that they had that talk. Kim says she kept Jenner's secret for years, only telling Kanye West what she knew before their wedding in 2014.

"I wasn’t sure if Bruce was going to be comfortable walking me down the aisle," she explains. "He had just had his trachea shaved, so I knew something was going on. I thought that Kanye should know that this is the reality about one of his daughter’s grandparents."

In that same interview with Sawyer, Jenner revealed that Kim had been the most supportive of her transition, and that it was, in part, thanks to Kanye.

"They were talking about it and he says to Kim, 'Look, I can be married to the most beautiful in the world, and I am. I can have the most beautiful daughter in the world. I have that. But I'm nothing if I can't be me, if I can't be true to myself, they don't mean anything,'" Jenner recalled.

Though she'd known about Caitlyn for years, Kim didn't formally meet her until the shoot for her instant classic "Call Me Caitlyn" Vanity Fair cover: "It was so beautiful ... That was my first time meeting Caitlyn. She's beautiful, and I'm so proud that she can just be her authentic self. I guess that's what life is about."