Momager. Family matriarch. Business superstar. Kris Jenner seems to do it all.
And at 66 years old – with a net worth of $230 million – Jenner said she’s nowhere near finished.
“I never want to think that … you’ve exercised everything you have,” Jenner told Know Your Value founder and “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski. “… To feel like there’s a lot more to come and there’s more chapters is very exciting for me, and it inspires me.”
Jenner was honored on Forbes and Know Your Value’s “50 Over 50” list, which was revealed on Thursday. The list celebrates women over the age of 50 who have found success later in life and are shattering age and gender norms.
It was in her 50’s that Jenner rose to fame with the reality television series “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” – an idea she came up with and pitched to E! herself. When the first season aired, Jenner was 51 years old.
The show supercharged the Kardashian-Jenner empire, and Jenner’s foray into managing the careers of her extremely successful children, in addition to their businesses, which include Skims, Good American, Kylie Cosmetics and many more. It also catalyzed spin-off shows, product endorsement deals, books and a combined 1 billion followers on social media.
Jenner’s rise to stardom, however, wasn’t quick. She came from more humble beginnings, reportedly working in a donut shop as a teenager and later as an airline steward before marrying Robert Kardashian in 1987. After their split in 1991, she went on to marry former Olympian Bruce Jenner, now Caitlyn – raising six children across her two marriages.
Jenner is passionate about trying to help younger women learn from her experience. She urged them to take their time and be confident that success doesn’t have to come immediately and all at once.
“From my generation, there was always a clock ticking about having a baby, getting married, starting a family and you were sort of considered an old maid if you weren’t married and pregnant by 30 … And that was really interesting. And just so crazy,” said Jenner.
“Now, when I think back about that, because, you know, I have so many daughters and they’re two different generations … and everybody’s doing everything a decade later … So I think all the boundaries that we feel like other people have set for us are imaginary at this point. And I think people are finding their own power. And their own way of doing things. And I think that in and of itself is very powerful.”
Brzezinski also asked Jenner about the family’s moral responsibility as it relates to their massive social media following, especially as studies show social media’s harmful emotional and mental affects on young people, especially women.
Jenner acknowledged that with their following comes a lot of responsibility and that they have “learned a lot of lessons along the way,” preferring to share “aspirational things and things that make people feel good and …fun experiences.”
As for the public criticism they receive, Jenner said, “We have really thick skin as a family. We’re used to it, and we can handle it. But there’s a lot of people out there that are really affected by nasty messages. And it’s very powerful in the worst way. And that’s what I worry about for my children, my grandchildren …the world’s children… There has been a history of, you know, mental health problems and suicides and, you know, just horrible things going on … People don’t realize how powerful their words can be. And they really have to think before they post.”
