Bruce Jenner launched a stinging attack on ex-wife Kris

Former sporting champion Bruce Jenner launched a stinging attack on ex-wife Kris as he unveiled his new female identity as glamorous Caitlyn on the cover of Vanity Fair.

The pair were married for 23 years until their divorce was finalised in December, but Caitlyn, who has now transitioned, has branded the matriarch 'controlling' and says she felt 'mistreated'.

Caitlyn, 65, who debuted her feminized self on the cover while wearing a white corset, said Kris, 59, 'wasn't very nice' and that gender didn't cause them to divorce - it was mainly her treatment of him.'The first 15 years I felt she needed me more because I was the breadwinner,' she told Vanity Fair.

'Then really around the show, when that hit and she was running the whole show and getting credit for it and she had her own money, she didn't need me as much from that standpoint... I think in a lot of ways she became less tolerant of me.'

Caitlyn continued: 'A lot of times she wasn't very nice. People would see how I got mistreated. She controlled the money, all that kind of stuff.'

When Bruce let the world in on his intention to become a woman, Kris was taken aback. 'It was like the most passive-aggressive thing I think I ever experienced,' Kris lashed back.

Kris had her chance to speak out, telling Vanity Fair: 'He was married to me and he wasn't who he wanted to be so he was miserable…

'All I was doing was working very hard for my family so that we could all have a wonderful future, and he was p***ed off.'

'At the end of my relationship with Bruce he definitely had a lot of social anxiety… That was one of the reasons we were in a struggle at the end.'

Caitlyn has received an outpouring of support from her family and celebrities, as well as friends around the world, following the breathtaking reveal.

But this may be undermined by her stinging attack on her former wife, as she insisted in the interview that Kris was well aware that 'Bruce' had taken hormones in the late 1980s and that there were side effects including breasts - a 'good solid B cup.'

She finds it unusual that she didn't know about his gender issues.' Probably a mistake I made was maybe not having her understand,' Jenner told the publication.

Kris said that Bruce had a 'little bit of a man boob situation' but 'no B cup going on.' Although Bruce said that he did cross-dress in front of Kris, he claimed she later told him not to do it at home.

She asked of Bruce, 'Why would you want to be married and have kids if this is what you wanted since you were a little boy?' Why would you not explain this all to me?'