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Businesswoman Sophia Hutchins, the longtime friend and manager of Caitlyn Jenner and a Trump campaign surrogate, has died at the age of 29 after being involved in an ATV crash that took place near the Malibu home she shared with Jenner, TMZ reported on Thursday (July 3).
Hutchins was reportedly sent off the road by the impact of the collision, at which point she and the vehicle fell down a 350-foot ravine before being pronounced dead at the scene. No other individuals were reported to be injured in the crash.
It's unclear whether Jenner, who hadn't yet publicly addressed Hutchins' death as of Friday (July 4) afternoon, was present at the time of the fatal crash. Hutchins, who was also transgender, met Jenner, 75, shortly after the latter announced her own transition in 2015 and appeared on her popular E! reality series I Am Cait, which chronicled the former Olympic gold medalist's transition.
Hutchins completed her own gender transition during her junior year of college, having resigned as president of the Pepperdine University Class of 2018 at the time, crediting Jenner's coming-out interview as motivation for her transition in 2016.
“(Jenner) made it so much more real for (Hutchins,) like normal and successful people do this and people are OK when they do it,” Hutchins said in a research article from Pepperdine University via the New York Post, having moved forward with a full transition after the interview took place.