Caitlyn Jenner shares how she prepared for her epic ESPYs speech – and who made her dress

Caitlyn Jenner has received a lot of well-deserved praise for her speech at last week’s ESPYs during which she was presented with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.

What the millions who watched did not know was the level of fear Jenner had about giving the speech despite decades as a sought-after motivational speaker.

‘As a dyslexic kid, my biggest fear in life was to go in front of the class and read because I just wasn’t very good at it — and that stays with you through your whole life,’ Jenner writes in her latest WhoSay column posted today.

‘That’s why all of my speaking engagements through the years have been always off the cuff. I’m better off getting up there knowing what I’m going to say and doing it.’

But this could not be an off the cuff night.

‘I really had to stick to the prompter because I only had a certain number of minutes to make it right, to get my points across. I practiced, and practiced, and practiced, and practiced to make sure I’d nail it.’

She also had never given a speech wearing a dress.

Jenner (pictured below with her family) revealed that her dress was designed by Donatella Versace who asked for the assignment an it was made in Italy.

‘It was like every fantasy of my life come true,’ she writes. ‘Getting glamorous for the ESPYs was a big process to go through, but it was amazing and so much fun. I really wanted to feel real comfortable up there (although there was a corset under that dress, so I don’t know how comfortable I was!). I wanted to feel good. I wanted to feel pretty. I wanted to be myself.’