Inside Jazz Jennings Emotional Celebration Of Her Father
Jazz Jennings and her family have shared their journey in front of television cameras on and off for a decade. Viewers of "I Am Jazz" have met not only Jazz, but her parents and siblings too.
In 2009, Jazz's family started publicly sharing her journey as a transgender individual with an appearance on "60 Minutes." A television documentary titled "I Am Jazz: A Family in Transition" came in 2011, and in 2015, TLC launched the series "I Am Jazz," featuring the then 14-year-old Jazz getting ready for high school, per Variety. Viewers followed along as Jazz had her initial gender confirmation surgery in 2018, and then navigated complications and additional surgeries. The "I Am Jazz" family held off on filming for a while after her high school graduation in Season 6, but Season 7 of "I Am Jazz" debuted in November.
Fans have plenty of catching up to do, not only with Jazz, but with her family too. That family includes Jazz's sister Ari, brothers Sander and Griffen, and parents Jeanette and Greg. Jeannette has been heavily featured on "I Am Jazz" since the beginning, and she's clearly quite close to Jazz. Greg has always been involved too, however, and, on December 7, Jazz shared a sweet post celebrating her father Greg's birthday, showing they are quite close as well, and fans loved the touching sentiments.
Jazz Jennings praises her father
In a December 7 Instagram post, Jazz Jennings wished her dad a happy birthday. She called him an "incredible man" and acknowledged, "There are not many fathers out there who would allow their child to transition in a time when transgender youth were practically unheard of." Jazz also credited her father Greg with giving her "a voice and the freedom to be my true self." The "I Am Jazz" star added she loved him "so much" and knew she would "always cherish our special connection."
This was hardly the first time Jazz highlighted her love for Greg. A 2016 Father's Day Instagram post featured a photo of Greg holding baby Jazz and she noted, "You have been there for me since the very beginning." In a Father's Day Facebook post in 2018, Jazz wrote he was "the greatest man I have ever met: so loyal, honest, kind, thoughtful, and caring." She noted he always provided "a listening ear whenever I needed someone to hear my deepest and most authentic emotions," and wrote his "unconditional love and support" had forever changed her life.
In the early days of publicly talking about Jazz's transgender story, Greg admitted, per ABC News, "Every day I'm afraid that I might get a call that something happened." Despite those worries, "what we've tried to do for Jazz is give her as much self-esteem as we can." Judging by Jazz's social media posts honoring her dad, his support has not gone unnoticed.