Kristen Mary Houghton was born inSan Diego, California, on November 5, 1955, the elder of two children born to Mary Jo "M. J." Shannon (née Campbell; born 1934), who owned a children's clothing store, and Robert True "Bob" Houghton (1931–1975), an engineer.[1][2][3][4] When she was seven years old, M. J. and Bob divorced, and she and her younger sister, Karen Casey (née Houghton; 1958–2024), were raised by their mother. M. J. would eventually remarry, to businessman Harry Shannon (1926–2003), who helped raise Jenner and her sister. By her mother's marriage to Harry, she gained a stepbrother, Steven "Steve" Shannon.[5]
Three months after moving toOxnard, California, Shannon's business partner allegedly left with all the company's capital, so the family moved back to San Diego.[6] In San Diego, Jenner worked at Shannon & Company, a children's clothing store that belonged to her mother.[7] Jenner attendedClairemont High School[8] and graduated in 1973.[9] In 1975, when Jenner was 19, her father died in a car crash in Mexico.[10] She worked forAmerican Airlines as a flight attendant for a year in 1976.[11]
Jenner met withRyan 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 showThe Osbournes in his mind. Jenner further commented on the possible series:[12]
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 theE! cable network, with Jenner acting as the executive producer. The series focused on the personal and professional lives of the Kardashian–Jenner blended families.[13] The series debuted on October 14, 2007, and became one of the longest-running reality television shows in the country.[14]
The series was successful for its network,E!, and has resulted in the creation of numerousspin-offs[15] includingKourtney and Kim Take Miami (2009), in which Jenner has made multiple guest appearances.[16] Jenner was also featured as a recurring cast member inKourtney and Kim Take New York, which premiered in January 2011. Also in 2011, Jenner made an appearance in her daughter's show,Khloe & Lamar when it debuted, and the series focused on Khloe Kardashian and her then husbandLamar Odom's personal life and relationship.[17] On March 26, 2014, E! announced aKeeping Up with the Kardashians spin-off series titledKourtney & Khloé Take the Hamptons.The Hamptons follows Kourtney, Khloé, andScott Disick as they relocate toThe Hamptons while the girls work on the New York Dash store plus open apop-up store.[18] The show also featured their family including Jenner. In 2017, Jenner's youngest daughter Kylie, featured as the central cast member for the E! reality spin off seriesLife Of Kylie.[19][20][21]
Jenner hosted apop culture-driven daytimetalk show,Kris. The series began its six-week trial summer run on severalFox-owned stations on July 15, 2013.[22]Kanye West, her then-son-in-law through his marriage to Kim, revealed the first public picture of Jenner's granddaughter North West on the show. The show's six-week trial run was not extended.[23]
In 2015, Jenner appeared as a recurring cast member in six episodes of theE! reality seriesI Am Cait. The show followed the journey of her ex-husbandCaitlyn Jenner's (formerly Bruce) gender transition.[24][25][26] Even after their 2015 divorce, they continued to co-star onKeeping Up with the Kardashians together with their children.
In 2021, Jenner and her family announced that their reality show,Keeping Up With the Kardashians, would be ending after twenty seasons and almost 15 years on air.[27][28][29] The final (twentieth) season premiered on March 18, 2021.[30][31]
In April 2022, Jenner and her family returned to the television screens with their brand new reality television show, titledThe Kardashians, after they left theE! Network to joinHulu.[32][33][34] The show features Jenner, alongside her daughtersKourtney,Kim,Khloe,Kendall andKylie, it also features ex and current partners includingScott Disick,Travis Barker,Tristan Thompson, and Corey Gamble, withKanye West making a guest appearance.[35] The first season premiered on 14 April 2022, and its ten episodes can be streamed exclusively onDisney+.[36][37] Later in 2022, the show was announced to be returning for a second season, which officially premiered on 22 September 2022.[38][39][40] In late 2022, it was announced that the show had been officially renewed for a third season, set to premier in the first half of 2023.[41][42][43] The third season officially aired on 25 May 2023.[44][45][46]
Business
Jenner runs her own production company, Jenner Communications, which is based in Los Angeles. Since before the start ofKeeping 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. She has been involved in the launch and an instrumental guiding force of their successful family brands includingKylie Cosmetics, Kylie Skin, KKW Beauty, KKW Fragrance,Skims, Good American, 818 Tequila, SKKN by Kim and Arthur George.[47]
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.[13][48] In 2011, Jenner launched a clothing line, Kris Jenner Kollection withQVC.[49][50] Jenner had previously sold exercise equipment with QVC in the 1990s.[51]
In 2014, Jenner and her youngest daughter Kylie founded a company calledKylie Lip Kits (now Kylie Cosmetics) and partnered with Seed Beauty, a retail and product development company co-founded by siblings, John and Laura Nelson.[52] The company's first product Kylie Lip Kits, a liquid lipstick and lip liner, debuted on November 30, 2015.[53] The first 15,000 lip kits were produced by Seed Beauty and funded by Kylie at a cost of $250,000 from her modelling earnings.[54] The company was renamed to Kylie Cosmetics in February 2016, and production was increased to 500,000 kits. By the end of 2016, the company's total revenue was over $300 million. On May 9, 2018, Jenner and Kylie announced their collaboration called the Kris Kollection via Kylie's personal Instagram. The Mini Lip Set in the Kris Kollection, which includes eight mini liquid lipsticks, is aptly named “Momager”, a title in which Jenner has personally taken on, and attempted to trademark, in recent years.[55] In addition to the "Momager" Lip Kit, the Kris Kollection includes lip glosses and a four pan pressed powder highlight/blush palette, which has created much controversy online with both good and bad reviews.[56] The collection was released just in time for Mother's Day.[57]
In April 2020, Jenner teamed up with daughter Kim to launch a perfume collaboration titled KKW x Kris.[58][59]
Writing
Jenner's autobiography,Kris Jenner... and All Things Kardashian, was released in November 2011.[60] She later wrote acookbook entitledIn the Kitchen with Kris: A Kollection of Kardashian-Jenner Family Favorites, which was released in October 2014.[61]
Public image
Jenner has often been referred to as the "matriarch" ofthe family.[62][63] Dimitri Ehrlich ofInterview magazine called her "the matriarch of the Kardashian-Jenner brood" and the "21st century's preeminent female pop-cultural brand-builder."[64] Jenner explained her operations as a businesswoman in her memoirKris 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."[50]
In 2023, Jenner appeared in the music video for American singerMeghan Trainor's new song "Mother", with Trainor describing her as "the mother of all mothers".[72][73]
Jenner's first marriage was to lawyerRobert Kardashian (who later became widely known for his early legal representation ofO. J. Simpson) on July 8, 1978.[74][75] They have four children: daughtersKourtney (born 1979),Kim (born 1980),Khloé (born 1984), and sonRob (born 1987). They divorced in March 1991 but remained close friends until his death fromesophageal cancer in 2003.[76]
In April 1991, one month after her divorce from Kardashian, Jenner married her second spouse, retired OlympianBruce Jenner, who publicly came out as a transgender woman in 2015, taking the name Caitlyn.[77] They have two daughters together:Kendall (born 1995) andKylie (born 1997);[78] in her autobiography, Jenner explained that she named her daughter Kendall Nicole after the lateNicole Brown Simpson.[79] By marriage to Bruce, Jenner also had four stepchildren:Burt, Cassandra "Casey",Brandon, andBrody.
The Jenners announced their separation in October 2013,[80][81] and on September 22, 2014, Kris filed for divorce, citingirreconcilable differences.[82] The divorce became final on March 23, 2015, because of a six-month state legal requirement.[83][84] Jenner described the breakup with Caitlyn as "the most passive-aggressive thing", saying that while she had known of Caitlyn's use of hormones in the 1980s, "there wasn't a gender issue. Nobody mentioned a gender issue."[85]
As of 2023, Jenner has twelve grandchildren.[86][87] She has been in a relationship with Corey Gamble since around 2014.[88]
Jenner and her family suffered emotional turmoil during theO. J. Simpson trial (1994–1995), later described as the "Trial of the Century." Jenner was a good friend of Simpson'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.[89]
Jenner and Pastor Brad Johnson founded the California Community Church in 2012. It originally was called the Life Change Community Church, located inAgoura Hills, California.[91]
^Stated inKris Jenner... and All Things Kardashian, 2011
^"Kris Jenner Explains Why Khloé Kardashian Named Her Baby True"Archived April 18, 2018, at theWayback Machine.Elle. April 16, 2018. ("It turns out True has a lot of family history to it. 'FUN FACT,' Jenner wrote in all caps so you don't miss it. 'My Grandfather's name on my Dad's side was True Otis Houghton....my real Dad's name was Robert True Houghton...so I am so excited Khloe named her daughter True!!!'")
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