Forget the Midas touch — Kris Jenner has her own ways of turning everything into gold. Over the last two decades, the Keeping Up With the Kardashians matriarch has somehow managed to extend her 15 minutes of fame into a lifelong career, both for herself and her now-famous family. The latest cherry on top of the sundae that is her life? An extensive profile in the New York Times Magazine.
For the piece, the 59-year-old reality star took writer Taffy Brodesser-Akner behind the scenes of her crazy empire and chaotic but close-knit family, who’ve been in the headlines even more than usual recently thanks to patriarch Bruce Jenner‘s announcement that he is transitioning from male to female.
“At the end of the day, I just want him to be happy,” Kris told the Times of her ex-husband, 65. “He’s going to find his happiness, and he’s going to have his journey.”
Kris’ journey, as detailed in the Times profile, has had lots of twists and turns over the years, starting with her marriage to (and subsequent divorce from) the late Robert Kardashian, whom she met at 17 and wed at 22. “They had children and spent their weekends in Fila warm-up suits playing tennis with their friends O.J. Simpson and Nicole Brown Simpson,” Brodesser-Akner writes of that period of the reality star’s life.
Fast-forward to 1990, when Kris — still finalizing her divorce from Kardashian — met and fell in love with Bruce. At the time, Brodesser-Akner notes, “they were broke,” relying on Bruce’s “fledgling business doing motivational speeches.” But not for long.
After Kris took charge of Bruce’s career, she “realized the pool of talent she had right there in her own home,” Brodesser-Akner writes. So in 2007, she “marched into Ryan Seacrest‘s office” and pitched him the idea for what is now Keeping Up With the Kardashians, currently in its 10th season (not counting the many spinoffs, like Kourtney & Khloe Take the Hamptons).
Today the show is just one part of the Kardashian-Jenner mega-empire, which also includes clothing lines, beauty products, mobile apps, and licensing deals for her six kids — Kourtney, 36, Kim, 34, Khloe, 30, Rob, 28, Kendall, 19, and Kylie, 17.
“It doesn’t mean that we’re always looking for more or that we’re greedy,” Kris said of her family’s ever-expanding domain. “There’s a lot of people that have great ideas and dreams and whatnot, but unless you’re willing to work really, really hard, and work for what you want, it’s never going to happen. And that’s what’s so great about the girls. It’s all about their work ethic.”
Clearly, they get that from their mom. Kris is always working on her next big idea — which, at the moment, is a new reality show. The Times profile doesn’t offer specifics, but it does note that she met recently with Pussycat Dolls founder Robin Antin, Bachelor producer Mike Fleiss, and Incubus rocker Michael Einziger to discuss it.
“I don’t think we’re going to be digging for dirt,” she told the group of the top-secret pitch. “I think that is going to come find us.”
Read the full profile of Kris Jenner on the New York Times‘ website.
