Background and career
Kristen Mary Jenner (née Houghton HOH-tən, formerly Kardashian; born November 5, 1955) is an American media personality, socialite, and businesswoman. She rose to fame starring in the reality television series Keeping Up with the Kardashians (2007–2021) with her family. The success of their show led her and her family to star in multiple spin-off series, including Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami (2009), Kourtney and Kim Take New York (2011), Khloe & Lamar (2011), Rob & Chyna (2016) and Life of Kylie (2017). She acted as executive producer for most of her family's reality programs. In 2013, she hosted a six week long pop culture-driven daytime talk show, called Kris. Following her family's decision to sign off from E! in 2021, they then went on to star in The Kardashians on Hulu from 2022.
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 (who transitioned to Caitlyn): Kendall and Kylie. She has 13 grandchildren, including the musician North West.
Kristen Mary Houghton was born in San Diego, California, on November 5, 1955, the elder of two children born to Mary Jo "M. J." Shannon (1934–2026; née Campbell), who owned a children's clothing store, and Robert True "Bob" Houghton (1931–1975), an engineer. When she was seven years old, M. J. and Bob divorced, and she and her younger sister, Karen Casey (née Houghton), were raised by their mother. M. J. eventually remarried to businessman Harry Shannon, who helped raise Jenner and her sister. By her mother's marriage to Harry, she gained a stepbrother, Steven "Steve" 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. In 1975, when Jenner was 19, her father died in a car crash in Mexico. She worked for American Airlines as a flight attendant for a year in 1976.
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:
How Kris Jenner makes money
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. By the end of 2016, the company's total revenue was over $300 million.
