When Bruce and Kris Jenner broke the news in October 2013 that they were separating after 23 years of marriage, people wanted to know why.
The latest issue of Vanity Fair, in which Bruce Jenner revealed a new female identity, Caitlyn, would seem to reveal an obvious answer. But in the article, Kris denies she ever knew that her husband wanted to transition to being a woman. If that’s true, from those interviewed, it sounds like Kris was one of the last in the family to know.
In the 1980s, before meeting then Kris Kardashian, Jenner had begun hormone treatments to transition to a woman. The athlete stopped the hormones in 1990 after having a change of heart, just before the pair was introduced.
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The two disagree about whether or not Kris was told about the hormones. Jenner told Vanity Fair that Kris knew because there were obvious residuals effects: B-cup sized breasts. Kris told the magazine that wasn’t so. She says Jenner simply had man boobs.
There is also a difference of opinion as to whether or not Kris knew about the cross-dressing. Jenner says Kris laid down rules as to when and where this was allowed. Kris says not only did she never make any such rules, as far as she knew, "there wasn't a gender issue."
"Why would you want to be married and have kids if this is what you wanted since you were a little boy?” Kris asks in the article. “Why would you not explain this all to me?"
Jenner admitted that the feelings of being a woman trapped in a man's body may not have been made clear enough to Kris, telling VF it was "probably a mistake I made was maybe not having her understand … that this is a condition you cannot get away from."
Jenner did however tell first wife Chrystie Crownover back in 1973.
“He told me he always wanted to be a woman,” Chrystie said. “He told me as a little kid how that felt. He told me [of] different fantasies that he had, related to loving women.”
Jenner’s second wife, Linda Thompson, said she also knew. After four years of marriage and two kids, Jenner told her, and they went into counseling. Thompson said the therapist told her that if she stayed with Jenner “you can have what you might consider a lesbian relationship because, you know, you can stay married to him. You will both be women, but he’s attracted to you.”
Thompson opted for divorce “because I married a man.”
Jenner, who has 10 kids, told the Kardashian and Jenner offspring individually after a website published a story in December 2013 that hinted at the physical changes to come. According to the article, many of them already knew, having been told by their mothers years ago.
Jenner told the magazine the bottom line is the split with Kris wasn’t related to gender identity issues.
"Twenty percent was gender and 80 percent was the way I was treated."
Initially, Jenner was solely responsible for the support of the family, but once "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" hit big, Jenner said a rift was created because Kris and her daughters had their own money. As a result, the relationship changed.
For her part, Kris says because of the added work and responsibilities, she "didn't have the kind of time she had in the past." But she also says that her husband was angry a lot. "He was married to me and he wasn't who he wanted to be so he was miserable…"
Kris filed for divorce on Sept. 22, 2014.
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