with a high school education.
behind the culturally polarizing family that turned reality TV
success into a multi-million dollar gold mine.
This is the evolution of Kris Jenner.
Kristen Mary Houghton was the South Cali Cinderella
Born in San Diego in 1955, her parents divorced when she
was a child and her father took off shortly after.
Her existence was unremarkably middle class until she met
well-to-do attorney Robert Kardashian on the
Del Mar Racetrack at the age of 17.
Despite their 11-year age difference, Robert was smitten.
It took him two tries, but finally he convinced her to
ditch her job as a stewardess and accept his proposal.
They wed when she was 22,
Enter Kourtney Mary,
Kimberly, Khloe Alexandra
and Robert Arthur Kardashian Jr.
Their life in Beverly Hills was defined by lush accommodations
and devout Christian faith. Robert and Kris often attended
bible study together.
Throw in some designer labels and A-List friends,
But trouble in paradise was brewing under the surface.
In the late 1980s, Robert found out that Kris was having
an affair with local professional soccer player
Todd Waterman, who was 10 years younger than her at the time.
Kardashian filed for divorce, cut off his wife financially and
drug her name through the mud with their friends. And when she
and Waterman split after she caught him cheating on her,
Kris had nothing.
In the heat of their drawn-out divorce,
on a blind date. The love between them sparked
instantaneously. Five months after they met, Caitlyn went to
Robert herself, begging him to finalize the divorce so that she
and Kris could start their lives together. Robert obliged,
and a couple months later,
As Kris and Caitlyn tried to move forward, her past seemed to
haunt her in the form of the O.J. Simpson murder
investigation. She and Caitlyn attended the trial together,
investigation. She and Caitlyn attended the trial together, a mournful Kris wearing the hand-me-down maternity clothes
a mournful Kris wearing the hand-me-down maternity clothes
of her dear friend Nicole Brown Simpson.
This had been a really tough year for, you know, a tough
15 months for all of us. And not only have we lost Nicole
we're lost O.J. too.
O.J.’s acquittal didn’t bring Kris the justice she was seeking
but a month after the trial ended she found reason to
celebrate in the birth of her daughter Kendall Nicole Jenner.
Younger sister Kylie Kristen Jenner followed a few years later.
Kris and her ex-husband were able to get back on good
terms over the years. But sadly Robert Kardashian
lost a battle with cancer in 2003.
Robert and I at the end
of his life were best friends.
As her new blended family grew,
Kris made herself the HBIC of their success.
In the late ‘90s, she took up the helm of her husband’s
motivational speaking career, managing the bookings and
endorsements. She even joined her in a series of workout
videos called ‘Super Fit with Bruce and Kris Jenner.'
In 2007, she approached Ryan Seacrest with the idea
for a reality show starring her family.
Kim had already gained some notoriety for the family name.
So producers came by to get some test shots of the Klan in their
natural element. It was obvious early on that
Guess who's going to jail on the 18th.
E! Initially passed on the show, but when Seacrest threatened
to go to Bravo, they bit.
About 898,000 people tuned in for the pilot episode of
‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’
While the world was keeping up, Kris made sure her family
struck while the iron was hot.
KUWTK has been the top-rated series on E! since 2010 and
broadcasts in more than 160 countries. Kris is the executive
producer of not only her family's reality show, but
'Dash Dolls'
'Kourtney and Kim Take New York'
'Kourtney and Kim Take Miami'
'Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami'
'Kourtney and Khloe Take The Hamptons'
'Khloe & Lamar,' 'Life of Kylie'
'Revenge Body' And 'Rob & Chyna'
She even had a talk show on FOX in 2013,
but it was canceled after only two months.
This is my beautiful stylist Monica and she just needed
a bathroom break, so I was just holding her baby.
Kris juggled all of this while managing her children’s
cosmetic collections, fragrance launches, fashion lines,
boutiques, and book deals. The Kardashians have weathered more
than their fair share of scandals over the years,
Including Kendall’s Pepsi commercial mishap
Lamar’s adultery and substance abuse
And Rob’s battle with his weight and depression to name only a few.
always keeping her loved ones close and focused on what
matters. Even when they felt they were at a breaking point.
It's just crazy that he's gone.
But he's not. No he's not.
In 2015, Caitlyn Jenner revealed herself
on the cover of Vanity Fair,
so that she could move forward as her true self.
The unfavorable comments Caitlyn made about her ex-wife in
her memoir ‘The Secrets of My Life’
added salt to the wound of an already messy divorce.
All through the book, Kris knew.
Kris knew before I even made love to her.
I'm like 'what?'
As luck would have it, Kris met Corey Gamble,
a former road manager for Justin Beiber,
shortly after her divorce to Caitlyn was finalized, and
For more than a decade,
People either love them or love to hate them.
She has largely become an omniscient background character
in the chaos her family creates, but one fact is undeniable: