Caitlyn Jenner Brought Kris Jenner’s Former BFF to Premiere Party for Mel Gibson’s New Movie

Director Mel Gibson and Caitlyn Jenner chatted it up at the screening of
Director Mel Gibson and Caitlyn Jenner chatted it up at the screening of Hacksaw Ridge on Monday night as Rosalind Ross and Ronda Kamihira looked on. (Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

You gotta have friends, and Caitlyn Jenner certainly has one in Ronda Kamihira. The two attended Monday night’s screening of Hacksaw Ridge in Beverly Hills, where the former Olympian had a chance to chat with the film’s director, Mel Gibson.

Two years ago, rumors were flying that Kamihira and Jenner were more than friends. Jenner had recently ended a 23-year marriage to Kris Jenner. And Ronda was one of Kris’s closest friends (she even worked as her personal assistant for a time), so when Bruce was spotted spending time with Ronda at an Elton John concert, many believed they were dating. Bruce’s stepdaughter Kim Kardashian even asked him point-blank during an episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians if they were an item.

“I don’t need to explain my relationship to anybody,” replied Bruce. “Nothing is going on. Certainly my intentions are not to hurt Kris. I don’t want anybody upset, but Kris is not going to tell me who I can and cannot hang out with.”

As we all know now, he was telling the truth. A few months later, the news broke that Bruce was actually transitioning, and the story around Ronda started to change. “It seems more like he confided in her,” an insider told People. “She would buy him feminine things he wanted. They had some kind of special bond.”

Despite the fact that the speculation caused her consternation, Ronda remained steadfastly loyal to her friend as Caitlyn emerged from the transition. She even helped Caitlyn pick out her name!

“I kind of narrowed it down to a few of them, Caitlyn being one of them, and I actually was with Ronda,” Jenner said on I Am Cait, explaining how she chose her new moniker. “I was talking to her about this whole thing about two years ago, and she goes, ‘Well, I’ve always liked the name Caitlyn.’ And I went, at some point, you just have to kind of bite the bullet and say, ‘Boom, it’s done.’ ”

And after Caitlyn introduced herself to the world on the cover of Vanity Fair in June 2015, Ronda tweeted out these words of support: “So proud of @Caitlyn_Jenner ! I love you beauty.”

And, apparently, their evening hangs continue to be A-list.