The April 15 episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians featured Kris Jenner finally getting past some of the issues she previously had with her ex, Caitlyn Jenner. During the episode, Kris revealed that she got a call from Caitlyn’s close friend, Sophia Hutchins. “She told me that she’s a little concerned about Caitlyn because she’s looking for something more to do with her career,” Kris explained to Kourtney Kardashian and Kim Kardashian. “She was like, ‘Well, if you have any ideas…’ and we started talking about things. But I just don’t know, am I going to want to go down this road?”
Kris and Caitlyn (formerly Bruce Jenner) were married for more than 20 years when they split in 2013. Two years later, Caitlyn publicly confirmed that she was transgender and would be transitioning into a woman. Although it was an awkward situation for Kris, she was on decent terms with Caitlyn at first. However, she was not happy with how Caitlyn portrayed her in a 2015 Vanity Fair article or her 2017 memoir, The Secrets of My Life. Eventually, the two had no relationship at all.
This “rocky relationship,” as Kourtney referred to it, was why Kris was hesitant to potentially help Caitlyn with business. “When Sophia called me and asked me about it, I just needed to digest it,” Kris admitted. “I needed to think about it and sort of process this request.” Kim told Kris that working with Caitlyn might be “therapeutic” and help her “heal,” but she and Kourtney both recognized how big of a deal this would be for their mom.
“I think my mom just is still, inside, super traumatized, and that’s okay,” Kim explained. “Her experience is her experience and we all have to be there for her. There’s no time limit that can be put on her for her to feel completely comfortable again.” After the conversation, Kris admittedly still wasn’t sure what she was going to do.
Later on, while Kris was spending time with Scott Disick, she got a FaceTime call from Caitlyn and Sophia, and she answered without hesitation. “This is not an easy situation, but Cait really does want my advice,” Kris said in a confessional. On the phone, she suggested that Caitlyn start a YouTube channel. “YouTube is a great idea,” she urged. “There’s so much content you can create to make it something where it’s different all the time. You can have a source of revenue stream and earn a great deal of money based on how many people are tuning in.”
Kris even gave Caitlyn some suggestions about what she could feature on her channel, including cooking and golfing. She also promised Sophia that she’d put her in touch with someone from her office who had contacts at YouTube. “We have a relationship over there and everybody is really great and really creative,” Kris gushed. “I’ll get you guys hooked into that and dealing with the advertisers and everything.” Caitlyn wound up launching her YouTube channel at the end of summer 2020.
“I just want to be able to help someone if they’re hurting or in any way if they need some inspiration,” Kris explained. “It’s coming from my heart instead of somebody telling me to do it. You want somebody to succeed — and she really does have a lot to say! Even though I can’t magically make things better between us, I’m just here to be supportive. I just want her to be happy, so I was really happy to offer some advice and encouragement over something she’s trying to do. I know it’s going to be really great.”