Momager is a word synonymous with Kris Jenner. The mother of six extremely successful children (Kourtney, Kim, Khloe, Rob, Kendall, and Kylie), in other words, billionaires or nearly billionaires or have-been billionaires, has churned out careers so legendary they had to coin an entirely new term for her. Admit it or not, there hasn’t been anyone like Kris Jenner, the momager. The stay-at-home mom turned around her life at the late age of 52, impacting every life around her. She turned her offspring first into mega stars and then into thriving entrepreneurs while she turned into a force to reckon with (Jenner is worth $200 million).
If anyone could sell ice to an Eskimo, it’s Kris, who went from being a donut saleswoman to building her multi-million empire brick by brick or kid by kid. There is little known about her real life before reality TV. Let’s take a look at the life of the millionaire/billionaire-maker who made a fortune by putting her life on the network-
From Kristen to Kris-
Kristen Mary Houghton was born in San Diego to an aeronautical engineer father and a children’s clothing store owner mother, M. J. Shannon. The older of two sisters, she never shied away from working hard and often did so at a don’t shop or her mother’s clothing store, Shannon & Company. She didn’t exhibit the same enthusiasm for her academics while attending Clairemont High School.
After graduating in 1973, an eager-to-earn Kris joined American Airlines, where she worked as a flight attendant for a year in 1976. In an interview for Beyond Candid With Giuliana! Kris accepted that working for her mother and grandmother helped her learn how to run a business.
Matrimony with a side of money-
Kris Jenner always wanted to marry rich. She would dream about moving to Los Angeles and mingling with the elite. The mission was mainly to land a wealthy husband in Hollywood, raise his children, and live lavishly. She did all this and more with Robert Kardashian, a 30-year-old lawyer, and businessman she met at the races. The Armenian was the perfect catch, one of the most eligible bachelors in Beverly Hills, who at one point ditched Jenner for Priscilla Presley. But who can challenge fate? In 1978, the couple got married, breathing life into Kris’s dream of becoming a wealthy wife.
Life in Beverly Hills-
Kourtney and Kim were born in their plush 650-square-meter estate in Beverly Hills. The well-designed mansion boasted tennis courts and a swimming pool. They led a comfortable life until the marriage stopped working. Kris was left divorced, husbandless, and moneyless all in one go.
The bells to make a living rang deafeningly when the businessman blocked all her credit cards. “I didn’t have anything. One day I went to the market, and my credit card didn’t work. I thought: “I can’t even buy a tomato,” she recalled as part of the OBJECTified show on Fox News.
The turning point-
By 1991 Kris found love in retired Olympian Bruce Jenner, who later came out as transgender Caitlyn. She had two daughters with him, Kendal and Kylie, and life was great again. 2007 was a real turning point in her life when a friend, television producer Deena Katz suggested a reality TV show owing to her unique household. A meeting with Ryan Seacrest led to the genesis of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, which became one of the longest-running reality television shows in the country. Kris joined the business bandwagon as an executive producer of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” and its summer spinoffs.
Truth be told, there would be no careers if Kris wasn’t managing her children. Kim Kardashian earned a cool $28 million in 2014 owing to the deals and campaigns her momager got her. Kendall, an accomplished supermodel, has Kris to thank for inducting her on the runways for Chanel and Marc Jacobs. “I help my children determine what they want to do, help them create a business, infrastructure, and focus on what is important,” the entrepreneur explained in an interview with Forbes. Kris also thinks of herself and sits on the boards of her daughters and sons’ businesses. She commands a remarkable 10 percent of the gross revenue from their products, TV shows, or modeling projects.
As many companies as grandchildren-
With inexhaustible energy, ambition, and vision, the grandmother of 12 raised cosmetics and beauty empires for both Kylie(Lip Kits) and Kim (KKW Beauty). Her razor-sharp business acumen got cosmetics giant Coty to cough up $200 million for a stake in KKW Beauty. Similarly, Kylie Cosmetics sold a 51% stake to Coty for a whopping $600 million.
Besides these brands that made her daughters billionaires, Jenner was also instrumental in successfully creating Skims, Good American (Khloe’s label), 818 Tequila (Kendall’s business), SKKN by Kim and Arthur George, Rob Kardashian’s sock company.
“I started to look at our careers like pieces on a chessboard…Every day, I woke up and walked into my office, and asked myself, ‘What move do you need to make today?’ It was very calculated. My business decisions and strategies were very intentional, definite and planned to the nth degree,” shared Kris. Her family owns 15 businesses in all, and Kris Jenner enjoys a net worth of $200 million.
She taught her daughters to shatter the glass ceiling-
What Kris Jenner has accomplished with her five daughters is something most people can’t achieve with even one. The saying “the devil works hard but Kris Jenner works harder” couldn’t be more accurate. Starting with her oldest, Kourtney, the 44-year-old wife of Travis Barker secured $25 million from the $80 million deal for three years of KUWTK. Kris also played a pivotal role in shaping Kourtney’s Poosh brand. For Kylie Cosmetics, Jenner not only invested but also devised a stellar marketing strategy, while remaining consistently involved in its development. Ultimately, the company achieved a $1.2 billion valuation, catapulting Kylie’s net worth over the billion-dollar mark.
With Kim’s KKW Beauty, Kris Jenner pulled out all the stops to promote it and even had a collection dedicated to her. The other two sisters might not be in the same financial league as Kylie and Kim, with the latter boasting a net worth of $1.7 billion, but the “momager” of the century has provided immense support to both Khloé Kardashian’s Good American and Kendall Jenner’s campaigns, including the 818 Tequila brand. After all, she’s their manager and takes a 10% cut from all these ventures.
