Sophia Hutchins, a businesswoman, media personality, and longtime friend of Caitlyn Jenner, died in a tragic ATV accident in Malibu on July 2, 2025. She was 29.
Reports say the budding beauty entrepreneur collided with the rear bumper of a moving vehicle near Jenner’s Malibu home and was thrown into a ravine. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Hutchins identified as transgender and had known her gender identity since childhood, but waited until college to come out. Her transition would later become a key part of her public identity.
Here’s a closer look at Hutchins’ life before and after transitioning—and the family that stood by her from the very beginning.
Her Real Name and When She First Knew
Sophia Hutchins was born Scott Hutchins on April 1, 1996, in Bellevue, Washington, to supportive parents. Her mother, Amy, has since passed away.
In September 2022, the social media influencer shared a photo of her late mother on Instagram with a caption: “Heaven with mommy.”
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Her sense of identity began taking shape early. By the age of five, Sophia was already experiencing feelings of gender dysphoria. In third grade, she quietly began researching what it meant to be transgender and how transitioning worked—but kept it all to herself.
She later attended a Catholic high school in Washington state, where she became known for her achievements in speech and debate.
She Previously Identified as Gay
Before coming out as transgender, Hutchins described herself as gay, not because it felt right, but because it felt safer.
She later admitted that calling herself gay was a way to ease others into her reality. “I thought it would be easier to get people’s acceptance this way,” she said. But deep down, she knew that wasn’t her truth.
Sophia Came Out During College
She first expressed her identity at 15, confiding in a close friend that she felt like a girl. “It’s almost like it just came out,” she recalled. “I didn’t even mean to let it out since I had been so used to holding it in and brushing it under the rug.”
Still, she kept that truth close. It wasn’t until she left home for Pepperdine University that she began transitioning in a visible way. The independence of college gave her the space to explore who she really was, beyond family expectations and social pressure.
She began with hormone therapy, hair removal procedures, and gradual physical changes. By 2016, she took a leave of absence from school to complete her transition. When she returned to campus in fall 2017, she introduced herself to classmates as Sophia, no longer Scott.
Later, she reflected on the experience while appearing on Jim Breslo’s Hidden Truth Show in 2019: “I truly feel my spirit, my soul, my mind is exactly the same. I’m just so much more comfortable physically.”
She also remembered how it felt before: “Yeah, I’m definitely just a girl—but I’m in the wrong body.”
Sophia graduated in 2019 with a degree in economics and finance. While at Pepperdine, she was also active in LGBTQ+ advocacy. She served as chair of the student government’s LGBTQ+ committee and joined Crossroads, the university’s first LGBTQ+ club.
Support from Her Family and Caitlyn Jenner
Hutchins often credited the support of her family and Jenner’s public story as the two anchors that helped her move forward with her transition.
Watching Jenner’s 20/20 interview in 2015, where the Olympic athlete shared her own gender transition, struck a deep chord. Hutchins said it made the entire idea feel more attainable—proof that successful, respected people could transition and still be accepted. It gave her the final push to move forward with her own.
That same year, she met Jenner in person, shortly after the former Olympic gold medalist publicly came out as transgender. The two soon formed a bond that quickly grew both personal and professional.
Sophia became the CEO of the Caitlyn Jenner Foundation, and also managed Jenner’s public image and business affairs. She appeared in several episodes of I Am Cait, the docuseries documenting Jenner’s early experiences post-transition.
Caitlyn also played a supportive role when Sophia launched LUMASOL in 2019, a tech-driven sunscreen brand built around skincare innovation.
Her late mother, Amy, was proud of her too. Speaking to RadarOnline.com, she called Sophia’s transition “pretty awesome,” and praised her daughter’s courage. “She’s got a lot of guts,” Amy said.
