Why The Jenner Family Can't Stand Kris Jenner

When Keeping up with the Kardashians premiered in 2007, it showcased the big, blended family created by the union of Kris and Caitlyn Jenner. This included their two daughters together, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, as well as Kris Jener's four children from her previous marriage to famed attorney Robert Kardashian: Kim, Kourtney, Khloé, and Robert Kardashian Jr. But there is another, lesser-known chunk of this supersized reality TV Brady Bunch.

Caitlyn fathered four other children: Cassandra and Burt Jenner with first wife, actress Chrystie Crownover; and Brandon and Brody Jenner with second wife, songwriter Linda Thompson. Compared to the Kardashians and the two youngest Jenner offspring, these four have maintained relatively low profiles. Throughout Caitlyn and Kris' marriage, Bruce, Brandon, and Burt all presented a united front when it came to their stepmom: They liked her just fine. However, after Caitlyn and Kris split up, the truth came out, and not just from the boys, but also from the rest of Caitlyn's side of the fam. This is why the Jenner family supposedly can't stand Kris Jenner.

Brody Jenner spoke highly of his then-stepmom, Kris Jenner, in 2013, telling the New York Daily News, "Kris and I have had some very deep, long conversations, and we actually really got to know each other, and so we're all good now." It was a stark contrast to the awkward dynamic between them portrayed on the show that same year.

Just two years later, Brody sang an entirely different tune on Sway in the Morning on Shade 45 (via TooFab). "Kris and I, honestly we never talk," Brody said, describing how most of the drama between the two families at that time revolved around Kris and Caitlyn's divorce. Though he did call Kris "a very smart woman" and "an incredible mother," Brody also suggested that since the divorce, the Kardashians are "not even technically my family anymore." 

One year later, Page Six reported that Brody was overheard uttering the same sentiment at Coachella, only with a bit more stank on it this time. "They're not my f***ing family!" he reportedly yelled at a fan who congratulated him on the success of the Kardashians. Yikes! Is it time for another deep, long conversation? Brody was a little more reserved at an Oscar viewing party in 2019, telling UsWeekly, "Everybody's kind of doing their own thing now, since my dad and Kris split up."

Of all Caitlyn Jenner's children, eldest son Burt Jenner has been the most outspoken against his one-time stepmom. In a since-deleted tweet (via Radar Online), Burt railed against family members he claimed did not support Caitlyn before she went public with her transition. A source told the tab that Burt's remarks were aimed at Kris Jenner and half-sister Kylie Jenner. The insider added, "Burt does his own thing and can't be controlled by anyone." Burt also pulled no punches in an interview with Dirt Authority (via InTouch Weekly) when he said that "the Kardashian world is not where I come from." 

He also claimed KUWTK was a destructive force in Jenner family relations, and described Kris' vision for the series as "the nail in the coffin" for his relationship with Caitlyn. "There was a you-aren't-part-of-this kind of thing," Burt told Vanity Fair. "Kris made the choice to make a good TV show that was in their image and brand." Hey, at least he snuck in a compliment while describing how Kris allegedly ripped their families apart for money.

Caitlyn Jenner's mother, Esther Jenner, ripped into Kris Jenner in a 2014 interview with the Daily Mail that could best be described as a real life chapter of the Burn Book from Mean Girls. As an opening salvo, Esther said Kris was a "controlling monster" who "didn't treat anybody very well." The insults piled up faster than KUWTK spin-off cancellations, with Esther calling Kris "domineering" and "backstabbing." Esther even claimed she told Caitlyn, "Hallelujah. It was necessary," when Caitlyn told her about the divorce.

Think Esther was done there? Hardly. Next came accusations that Kris cheated on both Robert Kardashian and possibly Caitlyn; that Kris didn't help care for Kylie and Kendall when they were babies: that Kris constantly "badmouthed" Caitlyn's children from her first two marriages; and that Kris manipulated Esther's cameo on the family's reality show. It was a takedown tour de force all wrapped up neatly with Esther's sentiment: "I hope she changes her name back to Kardashian, I don't want her to carry the name."

Five years after the vicious dragging, Esther was at it again, telling the same publication that she's "not fond" of KUWTK and doesn't understand the show's enduring popularity, because it has "no plot." She also accused Kris of making Caitlyn "look like a milquetoast man," during her time on the show. Yeesh. Granny don't play.

Compared to Grandma Esther's scorched-earth approach, Brandon Jenner's denouncement of Kris Jenner was mild at best. As reported by Vanity Fair, Brandon merely sub-shaded Kris when he strenuously opposed Caitlyn Jenner's decision to use KUWTK producers for her since-canceled spin-off reality show, I Am Cait. "You go on E!'s website, the Bunim/Murray website, and you look at all the shows, every one of them is a circus," Brandon said. Sure, this was no Grandma Esther making fun of Kris' breast implants, but considering KUWTK is Kris' brainchild and her financial lifeblood, an attack on the show is certainly an attack on Kris.

In 2019, Brandon admitted on a radio show (via Us Weekly) that being associated with Kris Jenner's empire has not been good for his career and "has changed the idea of what the last name Jenner" means. He added, "I sometimes am almost a little ashamed of it, because I feel like people are going to have this preconceived notion that I'm just, kind of, like a spoiled kid that doesn't really have anything to say, right? And hasn't struggled in their life."

Later that year, Brandon opened up further to People Now, revealing that he felt so alienated from the reality TV side of his family that he "overcompensated" by adopting a decidedly unglamorous aesthetic. "I just wanted to show the world that's not who I am, that I'm somebody that wants to be judged on my character and how I treat people and the world, and not how I look or what I have."

Caitlyn Jenner's second wife, Linda Thompson, has strong feelings toward Kris Jenner, and they aren't pretty. According to Vanity Fair, the rift started in the early years of Kris and Caitlyn's marriage when, according to the elder Jenner kids, "Kris essentially turned on them." According to Kris, the strain came from being "embattled all the time" over visitation disputes with Linda, but Caitlyn told a different story, citing Linda's petition for child support (after she initially waived it during their divorce) as having "had a very negative impact on Kris's willingness to integrate the families."

With that backdrop in mind, it's not surprising that Linda laid some of the blame at Kris' feet for the estrangement between Caitlyn and Thompson's sons, Brody and Brandon. According to Thompson's memoir, A Little Thing Called Life (via Radar Online), she holds her ex fully accountable for failures as a parent. However, she did get in the following dig directed at Kris: "Having been present at almost all of the birthday parties and holidays in the five years between our separation and his marriage to Kris ... Bruce was a noticeable absence now." We see what you did there, Linda.

According to Vanity Fair, Chrystie Crownover was married to Caitlyn Jenner from 1972 to 1980. During that time, Chrystie supposedly became the first person with whom Bruce Jenner confided about a desire to transition to Caitlyn Jenner. This makes Chrystie's scandalous claim that the whole transgender story was made up by Kris Jenner as part of a plan "to destroy his life" all the more dubious, but here's the dirt on this one:

Speaking with the Daily Mail about a year and a half before Caitlyn's "coming out" interview on 20/20, Crownover characterized Kris as "not a pleasant woman" who was "out to get" Caitlyn. She alleged that Kris had been spreading rumors about Bruce being a "cross-dresser," which Crownover dismissed as ridiculous on account of how Bruce was "a man's man." Perhaps Chrystie blatantly lied to the media to provide cover for Caitlyn until she was ready to make her own announcement about her gender identity. However, there was probably a way for her to do that without throwing Kris under the bus, right?