Caitlyn Jenner has spoken out about her friend and manager’s death.
“Recently my good friend Sophia passed away in a tragic accident,” Jenner, 75, said during an appearance on Fox. “But for the last seven weeks, I’ve been dealing with death, and it’s so difficult.”
Sophia Hutchins was killed in an ATV crash at age 29 on July 2.
Hutchins, who was Jenner’s longtime friend, manager, and a former Trump campaign surrogate, was driving an ATV near Jenner’s $3.5 million Malibu home when she hit the bumper of a moving vehicle.
The collision threw Hutchins down a 350-foot ravine.
She was pronounced dead at the scene, and it was ruled an accident.
“It looks like she may have been speeding and rear-ended the other car, the other party, and then that caused her to veer to the right and go off the cliff,” Sgt. Eduardo Saucedo of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department previously told the Daily Mail.
The Olympian previously told Daily Mail she was going through a “tough time” but did “not want to talk” about the tragedy.
In 2017 and 2018, there were rumors Jenner was dating Hutchins, who was one year younger than Jenner’s daughter, Kendall, 29.
In a 2019 interview, Hutchins told The New York Times, “We were never romantically involved.”
She said there were rumors because, “we weren’t addressing it. I don’t feel a need to address my sex life, quite frankly, unless I want to.”
Similar to Jenner, Hutchins was transgender. The two were later introduced through her makeup artist in 2015, she explained.
Hutchins appeared in several episodes of Jenner’s hit “E!” docuseries “I Am Cait,” which followed Jenner’s life after her transition.
Jenner’s late friend credited the gold medalist’s coming-out journey with motivating her to transition in 2016.
Reflecting on their first meeting, Hutchins told The Times, “Having a similar sense of humor, we spent the entire time laughing and ended up meeting for brunch, and we’ve been great friends ever since.”
Eventually, Hutchins became Jenner’s manager and moved into her house.
“She is one of the top minds in her field,” Jenner told the outlet at the time.
“Her value in my life is undeniable. The sky is the limit with her entrepreneurial spirit.”
Hutchins told the outlet about Jenner, “I saw nobody was managing her, and there were all these people taking massive advantage. And I was saying, ‘Caitlyn, if I don’t step in here and start managing you, you’re going to go broke.’”
