Kris Jenner: ‘How I helped Kim through her divorce’

In a Stellar exclusive, Kris Jenner sheds light on being a mum versus a “momager” and how she helped her daughter Kim Kardashian through her marriage breakdown from Kanye West.

Since catapulting her family into the public eye 15 years ago, Kris Jenner has helped her daughters build a media and retail juggernaut spanning social media, fashion and TV, steered pop-culture trends, and made countless headlines along the way.

In doing so, the Kardashian-Jenner matriarch proved that while she was ahead of the curve, she was also an able student who was willing to learn from her savvy brood, and supporting them at every turn. (In 2018, this writer witnessed a beaming Jenner, 66, first-hand as she sat front row at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in New York, wearing a white power suit and sunglasses, waving as her supermodel daughter Kendall Jenner strutted the runway like the proud “momager” that she is).

Now, as arguably the most famous family on the planet launches a new TV show, The Kardashians, the multi-tasking Jenner finds some time in her schedule for an exclusive chat with Stellar.

Kris Jenner with daughters Kourtney, Khloe and Kim Kardashian. Picture: AFP

Is there a difference between Kris Jenner the mother and Kris Jenner the manager?

Kris Jenner: Well, it’s funny you ask that [laughs] … We were just talking about that with my family. I think Kris Jenner, the mother, always dominates and shines through because I just can’t get away from being a mama bear. I love my kids so much.

I will always be very protective and be wanting to “do” for them. Watching them shine and succeed is my life’s greatest happiness.

Manager, for me, is coming up with ideas and direction and exploring different ways to run their brands, and to find the right team. They’re in control of their own brands – I think [about] having them realise their own individual dynasties.

Kris Jenner on the cover of Stellar magazine. Picture: Greg Swales for Hulu

I mean, they have their own brands and they’re each in control of this amazing life that they’ve built for themselves aside from their social media platforms, and the families they have now. I’m going back into “mom”, see? It’s all about being a mom first, and a manager second, for me.

Well, mothers do go into warrior mode when their kids are going through tough times, right?

KJ: I think we’ve been around for so long that one of the things that we all remind each other of is how to have thick skin. Whatever is going on in our lives, we’re there for each other,

no matter what. My kids know I would do anything for them.

At Victoria’s Secret in 2018. Picture: Getty Images

But your family still has to deal with critics and trolls on social media, pretty much around the clock. How do you handle it?

KJ: It’s disappointing, I’m not going to lie. You do the best you can, you go through life, you work hard, play hard; I raised my family, my kids have their own families now. We’re just trying to be good people.

The first thing I said to them when we started our show 15 years ago was, “Don’t go online. Don’t read the negativity.” These are people who are obviously very unhappy in their own lives when they’re going online, saying ugly things.

My grandmother used to always say, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” Those people, being bullies online, is always so shocking to me – that people have the desire to go criticise other people and sit behind the keyboard.

Kim Kardashian and her former husband US rapper Kanye West in 2020. Picture: AFP

Do you have any regrets, then, about choosing a life in the public eye? Do you ever wish the cameras weren’t there and you were just a normal suburban family that happens to live in LA?

KJ: Well, we’re so crazy we think we are a normal family in LA. [But] I know what you mean. We love what we do. We’ve been given this very big opportunity – it’s once in a lifetime – and I love the fact that we recognise that. I don’t have any regrets.

Kendall and Kylie started filming when they were nine and 10. I had a very different experience when I was their age; I did have “a normal life”, if you will.

How does your new show The Kardashians differ from the 20 seasons of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, which ran from 2007 until 2021?

KJ: As much as we loved the experience of Keeping Up, we’ve entered this new chapter. We film quite differently now and the look of the show is different; it’s more documentary-style.

It continues to cover the things that happen in our lives. We have people who have become emotionally invested in our lives. Everyone likes a different one of us, or follows a different one of us, and then together, they like us and gravitate towards us as a family. And I think we

see it from a different lens, literally.

There’s a lot of curiosity about how this show will handle Kim’s acrimonious divorce from Kanye West and her new relationship with Pete Davidson. So what can we expect?

KJ: It’s very fresh and new to us, too. We haven’t been filming all that long. As with all the relationships in my family, we try to be as transparent as we can.

I think there are a lot of things that happen where we all do have definite boundaries as to what we share about someone else, because it is their privacy as well. So you really do have to consider who else is in the picture, and who we’re talking about.

It’s still working itself out, so it will be something the audience kind of moves through with us as we go along.

Speaking of Kim, how have you helped her navigate her marriage breakdown?

KJ: When any one of us is going through something big in our lives, it’s really important for us to understand they’re not always going to have a lot of other people who are going

to understand the situation. So we try to be there for her and pay attention to what’s going on.

We all spend a lot of our time together. I know she feels, and she knows, that she has the support of her entire family, right? I think she’s just doing the best she can to make sure the co-parenting stuff goes well. She’s an amazing mom.

Your daughter Kourtney “wed” US musician Travis Barker in an unofficial ceremony on April 4. Is the new show really just “98 per cent Kourtney and Travis making out”, as it’s rumoured?

KJ: They lock lips a lot, let’s just put it that way.

All of your daughters are successful businesswomen. What have you taught them, and what have they taught you?

KJ: For me, teaching them is really about how to build an infrastructure, how to strategise and how to negotiate. They’ve mastered all the things that really matter about running a business because they’re so hands-on; they’re doing things they truly love and are passionate about.

The key to everybody’s success is finding something that you love, and go out there and figure out how to make that a viable business.

The thing they’ve taught me is how to appreciate everything we’ve worked so hard for. They’ve taught me everything about social media and technology, and all the things I’m a little bit goofy about.

I’m old-school, I’m so used to doing things the traditional way [in] marketing and business. And they’ve taught me a lot about staying on top of my game.

On a personal level, how have you managed the difficult times in your life?

KJ: I’m very strong on the outside and sometimes, if I go through something really crazy, and I need a good cry, then you can probably find me in the shower, having a moment.

I have the most amazing boyfriend, Corey [Gamble, a US business executive and talent manager who she’s been with since 2014]. He’s so supportive and strong. He loves my kids. We have an amazing life, and I feel lucky to have come through the things that I’ve been through in my life and be standing where I am today.

I also believe that everything happens for a reason. I’m a big believer that everything is meant to be.

The Kardashians are a global brand, and as the “momager” of the family, you’re the one who made that happen. Is that something you ever would have expected?

KJ: You know what? We’re so lucky. It amazes me every day how far the family has come and how much we’ve been able to do in the past 15 years.

The girls and their work ethic, and how hard they get up and face this grind every day, never cease to amaze me. It’s true what they say: it takes a village. I could have all the ideas in the world but if nobody shows up to the party, there isn’t a party.

It’s because of us as a unit, working together, that I think it all works, truly.

The Kardashians is streaming now on Disney+