Kris Jenner

Kristen Mary Jenner (née Houghton /ˈhoʊtən/ HOH-tən, formerly Kardashian; born November 5, 1955) is an American media personality, socialite, producer, entertainment manager, and businesswoman. She rose to fame starring in the reality television series Keeping Up with the Kardashians (2007–present).

She has four children from her first marriage to lawyer Robert Kardashian: Kourtney, Kim, Khloé and Robert, and two children from her second marriage to television personality and retired Olympic Games medalist Bruce Jenner (now Caitlyn): Kendall and Kylie.

Early life

Jenner was born in San Diego, California. She is the first child of Mary Jo Shannon (née Campbell; born 1934) and Robert True Houghton, an engineer. She is of Dutch, English, Irish, German and Scottish descent. When Jenner was seven years old, her parents divorced and she and her younger sister, Karen, were raised by their mother until a few years later when her mother married businessman Harry Shannon.

Three months after moving to Oxnard, California, Shannon’s business partner allegedly left with all the company’s capital, so the family moved back to San Diego. In San Diego, Jenner worked at Shannon & Company, a children’s clothing store that belonged to her mother. Jenner attended Clairemont High School and graduated in 1973. She worked for American Airlines as a flight attendant for a year in 1976.

Career

Jenner runs her own production company, Jenner Communications, which is based in Los Angeles. Since before the start of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, she has managed her daughters’ Kim, Kourtney, Khloe, Kendall and Kylie’s career. She also is involved with the business management of her other daughters and son.

Jenner opened a children’s boutique in 2004 with her eldest daughter, Kourtney. The boutique was called “Smooch” and was open for almost six years before closing down in 2009. In 2011, Jenner launched a clothing line, Kris Jenner Kollection with QVC. Jenner and Bruce previously sold exercise equipment with QVC in the 1990s.

Writing

Jenner’s autobiography, Kris Jenner… and All Things Kardashian, was released in November 2011. She later wrote a cookbook entitled In the Kitchen with Kris: A Kollection of Kardashian-Jenner Family Favorites, which was released in October 2014.

Television show

Jenner hosted a pop culture-driven daytime talk show, Kris. The series began its six-week trial summer run on several Fox-owned stations on July 15, 2013.

Kanye West, her son-in-law, revealed the first public picture of daughter North West on the show. The show’s six-week trial run was not extended.

Keeping Up with the Kardashians

Jenner met with Ryan Seacrest in 2007 to pursue a reality television show based on her family. Seacrest, who had his own production company, decided to develop the idea, having the popular family-based show The Osbournes in his mind. Jenner further commented on the possible series:

Like, there’s the little girls, and there’s the older girls, and then there’s my son. Everybody thinks that they could create a bunch of drama in their lives, but it’s something that I felt I didn’t even have to think about. It would be natural.

The show eventually was picked up to air on the E! cable network with Jenner acting as the executive producer. The series focuses on the personal and professional lives of the Kardashian–Jenner blended families. The series debuted on October 14, 2007, and has become one of the longest-running reality television shows in the country. The 18th season of Keeping Up with the Kardashians started airing on March 26, 2020. The show has resulted in the development of several spin-offs, such as Kourtney and Khloé Take Miami (2009), Kourtney and Kim Take New York (2011), Khloé & Lamar (2011), Rob & Chyna (2016) and Life of Kylie (2017)

Public image

Jenner has often been referred to as the matriarch of the family. Dimitri Ehrlich of Interview magazine called her “the matriarch of the Kardashian-Jenner brood” and the “21st century’s preeminent female pop-cultural brand-builder.” Jenner explained her operations as a businesswoman in her memoir Kris Jenner…And All Things Kardashian: “I started to look at our careers like pieces on a chessboard…Every day, I woke up and walked into my office and asked myself, ‘What move do you need to make today?’ It was very calculated. My business decisions and strategies were very intentional, definite and planned to the nth degree.”

Jenner has graced the covers of numerous fashion magazines, including CR Fashion Book, Redbook, Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar, The Hollywood Reporter, Es Magazineand New You.

Personal life

Marriages, relationships, and family

Jenner’s first marriage was to lawyer Robert Kardashian (who later became widely known for his early legal representation of O. J. Simpson) on July 8, 1978. They have four children: daughters Kourtney (born 1979), Kim (born 1980), Khloé (born 1984), and son Rob (born 1987). They divorced in March 1991, but remained close friends until his death from esophageal cancer in 2003.

In 2012, Kris confessed that she had an affair with former soccer player and animator Todd Waterman during her marriage to Kardashian. She referred to Waterman as “Ryan” in her autobiography, but he revealed his identity on his own. They had an encounter on Keeping up with the Kardashians while Kris was having a tennis lesson.

In April 1991, one month after her divorce from Kardashian, Jenner married her second spouse, retired Olympian Bruce Jenner, who publicly came out as a transgender woman in 2015, taking the name Caitlyn. They have two daughters together: Kendall (born 1995) and Kylie (born 1997); in her autobiography, Jenner explained that she named her daughter Kendall Nicole after the late Nicole Brown Simpson. By marriage to Bruce, Kris also had four stepchildren: Burt, Cassandra “Casey”, Brandon and Brody.

The Jenners announced their separation in October 2013, and on September 22, 2014, Kris filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce became final on March 23, 2015, because of a six-month state legal requirement. Kris Jenner has talked about the breakup with Caitlyn as “the most passive-aggressive thing”, saying that while Kris had known of Caitlyn’s use of hormones in the 1980s, “there wasn’t a gender issue. Nobody mentioned a gender issue.” Jenner has ten grandchildren.

Jenner has been in a relationship with Corey Gamble since around 2014.

O. J. Simpson trial

Jenner and her family suffered emotional turmoil during the O. J. Simpson trial (1994-1995), later described as the “Trial of the Century.” Jenner was a good friend of O.J.’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and Jenner’s first husband, Robert Kardashian, was one of O.J. Simpson’s “Dream Team” of defense lawyers during the trial.

She was portrayed by American actress Selma Blair in the FX limited series American Crime Story: The People v. O. J. Simpson, which premiered in February 2016.

California Community Church

Jenner and Pastor Brad Johnson founded the California Community Church in 2012. It originally was called the Life Change Community Church, located in Agoura Hills, California.

Filmography

As herself

Television

Year	Title	Notes	Ref.
2007–present	Keeping Up with the Kardashians	Main role (223 episodes)
2008	Dancing with the Stars	Guest (4 episodes)
2008, 2018	Celebrity Family Feud	Guest (3 episodes)
2009–10	Kourtney and Kim Take Miami	Main role (3 episodes)
2012–12	America’s Next Top Model	Guest star; 2 episodes
2011–12	Kourtney and Kim Take New York	Recurring role (6 episodes)
2011	Khloé & Lamar	Recurring role (4 episodes)
2013	Kris	Host (30 episodes)
2014	Kourtney and Khloé Take The Hamptons	Recurring role (2 episodes)
2015	I Am Cait	Recurring roles (6 episodes)
	The Mindy Project	Guest appearance
2016	Rob & Chyna	Recurring role (4 episodes)
	Hollywood Medium	Guest star (1 episode)
2017	RuPaul’s Drag Race
2019	Flip It Like Disick	Guest appearance (2 episodes)
2020	Justin Bieber: Seasons	Cameo
	Kirby Jenner	Recurring role (3 episodes)
	This is Paris	Guest appearance (Documentary)

As producer

Year	Title	Notes	Ref.
2007–present	Keeping Up with the Kardashians	Executive producer (78 episodes)
2011–12	Kourtney & Kim Take New York	Executive producer (20 episodes)
2011–12	Kourtney & Kim Take New York	Executive producer (20 episodes)
2011–12	Khloé & Lamar	Executive producer (20 episodes)
2009–13	Kourtney & Kim Take Take Miami	Executive producer (20 episodes)
2013	Kris	Executive producer (30 episodes)
2016	Rob & Chyna	Executive producer (3 episodes)
2019	Flip It Like Disick	Executive producer (1 episode)
2020	Kirby Jenner	Executive producer (8 episodes)

In music videos

Year	Title	Artist(s)	Role	Ref.
2016	“Where’s the Love?”	The Black Eyed Peas featuring The World	Herself
2018	“Thank U, Next”	Ariana Grande	Mrs. George