Caitlyn Jenner planned to become a woman at 40 but couldn't go through with it.

Speaking to H&M Magazine, the former US Olympic gold medal winning decathlete explained: "I was sitting there watching TV and they had a gender clinic in Orange County. I was scared to death about going over there, but it was also the first time I could sit down with somebody and talk about all the things that were going on in my head.

"When I left my first therapy session - first of all I survived it - and nobody laughed at me. I felt really good that for the first time I can actually talk to somebody who's intelligent, understands this.

After the visit, Caitlyn resolved that she would transition to the female gender before she reached 40, but she changed her mind at the last minute.

She admitted: "I'm (was) 34 and I thought by the time I'm 40 'I'm gonna transition', I just can't take this any longer. I got to about 39 and I just couldn't go any further."

The 'Keeping Up with the Kardashians' star also divulged that the first person she told about her feelings was first wife Chrystie Crownover, who she eventually divorced in 1981.

Caitlyn - who was previously married to Kris Jenner, with whom she shares two daughters Kendall and Kylie Jenner - said: "When you have gender issues you have a tendency to isolate yourself from people and you are certainly afraid to tell anybody. The first person I told was my first wife Chrystie, and this was actually after we had gotten married because I thought I had everything under control.

Despite his wife's shock, Caitlyn felt free for the first time: "She was kind of shocked, as most people are, but for me it was the most freeing moment ever being able to be honest with somebody about who you are."