Who Is Jazz Jennings' Brother? New Details About Sander Jennings
Jazz Jennings' brother took to Instagram to share his feelings about his family's reality show.
Instagram The Jennings family is no stranger to publicity. Ever since the youngest of the four children in the family started documenting her experience as a transgender person, the family has been in a spotlight. From YouTube videos to a book to a reality TV contract, the entire Jennings clan has become a familiar sight on TV.
While the show primarily focuses on Jazz and her life growing up transgender, the rest of the family feels the impact of being a TLC sensation as well. This week, Jazz's older brother Sander shared how he feels about being a reality TV star and he wasn’t entirely positive about it.
So who is Jazz Jennings' brother? And how do Jazz’s siblings feel about the spotlight on their family life? Read on for all the details.
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1. Jazz
Jazz Jennings is the youngest of four siblings, with one older sister and twin older brothers. Though assigned male at birth, Jazz started expressing her gender as female form the time she was 4 years old. By the time she was 5, her parents decided to let her socially transition to living full time in a female identity.
In 2007, when she was only 6 years old, she was interviewed by Barbara Walters about her life and the prices of growing up transgender. From that platform, Jazz and her parents started a foundation, wrote a book, produced YouTube videos and continued to have a media presence advocating acceptance of trans rights.
2. Reality TV
In 2011, the family was the subject of a documentary called I Am Jazz: A Family In Transition, which aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network. TLC eventually signed the family to do a reality series, also called I Am Jazz that began running in 2015.
It was a cultural watershed moment for awareness of trans people and their quest for acceptance; the same night I Am Jazz premiered, Caitlyn Jenner, a former athlete and reality star who had been known as Bruce Jenner prior to 2015, accepted an Arthur Ashe Courage award at the ESPY Awards on ABC.
3. Family life
The show deals with a lot of family situations that audiences recognize as being no different from any other family, despite Jazz being a trans teen.
The show dealt with Jazz beginning high school, her interactions with her friends, tryouts for sports teams, and first forays into dating, as well as documenting the process of her physical transition. She has been under the care of doctors to prevent puberty, begin hormone replacement therapy, and help guide her through surgical procedures.
She recently underwent gender affirmation surgery, which was featured on the show.
4. Siblings
Jazz’s older sister Ari was already mainly out of the house at the time the series started filming but her brothers Sander and Griffen have been a regular presence on the show.
At times, the series dealt with their feelings of being ignored while their parents focus on Jazz’s needs. But in general, the twins enjoy being part of the series. Sander was on Instagram this week saying "I enjoy being on the show, but it comes with difficulties. Many people do not support my family and I which is tough. I stay strong for what I believe in though.”
5. Losing friends
Being on a public show about a topic that some people still consider controversial isn’t without its hazards, says Griffen. He confesses that his sister’s transition and his family’s advocacy for trans rights and acceptance has caused friendships to break down.
“But they never were good friends if they can’t accept my sister,” he said.
6. College
Sander in is college now, studying pre-law at the University of Florida. Like the rest of the family, he uses Jennings as a pseudonym on TV to protect their own identities.
Sander attends school under his real name and seems to be having a pretty typical college experience, tweeting about sports, classes and college events.
7. Support
Throughout it all, Sander has been there to support his sister. This season show Jazz undergoing gender confirmation surgery. She had complications during her recovery and needed to have a second procedure to repair the problem. She and her parents are now working with doctors to determine if she’ll need any more surgical follow-ups or if she’s done with operations.
I Am Jazz airs on TLC. You can keep up with the whole family there and on social media.
Rebekah Kuschmider has been writing about celebrities, pop culture, entertainment, and politics since 2010. Her work has been seen at Ravishly, Babble, Scary Mommy, The Mid, Redbook online, and The Broad Side. She is the creator of the blog Stay at Home Pundit and she is a cohost of the weekly podcast The More Perfect Union.