While part one of “Keeping Up with the Kardashians: About Bruce” focused mainly on Bruce Jenner discussing his transition with his daughters and stepdaughters, the second-half and conclusion of the special featured the former Olympian having a heart-to-heart with his now third ex-wife, Kris Jenner.
Bruce and Kris married in 1991, after meeting on a blind date, and were husband and wife for 22 years before they announced their separation in 2013.
In a particularly heartbreaking and emotional scene, Bruce visited Kris at her home to talk to her about his transition, but the two ended up rehashing details of their failed marriage. Clearly a lot of love remains between the two, but there is also a lot of anger.
“I feel like I’m just trying to be honest with everybody and it seems like I’ve talked more to the kids and you’ve kind of been on the outside,” Bruce told Kris. “And I hear all these rumors from the kids, ‘Oh, mom is upset.’… And I don’t want that to happen. So I thought I would come over. And sit down and talk.”
“First of all, you’re an amazing woman. We have had so many great moments together. Twenty-three going on 25 years of great moments together. They still live inside me. They’re still part of me. I don’t want to let that go … I’m just trying to deal with myself and what’s best for myself,” Bruce explained to Kris, reading from a piece of paper. “In so many ways, I’ve lived my entire life running away from me and who I am. We raised amazing children and those memories will live inside me forever. And I will continue to have more of those wonderful memories. And I just want to get through this and do the best damn job of not hurting anybody, and that includes you. And I would hope that you would be on board.”
Kris was visibly upset to hear this — as she teared up and mascara ran down her face. “I think I’m just so confused right now … I think you shut me out a long time ago. You were angry, made me angry,” she said.
“You treated me badly those last years of our marriage,” Bruce responded.
“You were just very, very angry where we just had to separate. So now it makes sense to me. The truth in your head was different from the truth that came out of your mouth,” she replied.
“I don’t want to hurt you. God this isn’t easy,” he told her.
Kris then admitted that she always knew he wanted “to dress differently, and dress as a female,” but she didn’t know he was transgender, that he identified as a woman or that he decided to start taking hormones.
“I wasn’t taking them while we were together. That was all done after we separated,” Bruce said, adding that he took hormones in the 1980s way before the two had met.
“That’s part of the problem. You never explained. And every time I said to you, ‘Why are you such an angry person?’ You said I just wouldn’t understand and you couldn’t talk to me about it. That was your answer every time,” Kris told her ex.
She continued, “Just so you’re aware, ten years prior, you did the exact same thing … I talked to you about it and I said I don’t know what is wrong with you … I said I can’t handle this. You said you’re right, I’m sorry. You never said one time it was because of any issues you had. I just thought you were going through something … And I turned into the Wicked Witch of the West because of the way you were behaving. I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t work 18 hours a day and then have no love at home … because you were so far gone at that point you just needed to go do your thing.”
“I’ve always had these issues, honey, and I’ve never dealt with them,” Bruce, who seems to think that their relationship troubles aren’t just based on his gender issues alone, while Kris clearly disagrees, replied.
“You need to own what the truth is. And what you think people knew or didn’t know … I never saw this coming in a gazillion years. Your truth isn’t always the truth. You have a story to tell, but you tell it to people who can’t contradict and say what the truth is. You have to tell the truth,” Kris said to Bruce, as her voice wavered and she began to cry.
As they wrapped up their conversation, Bruce told Kris that she’s the toughest one to talk to out of anyone and he apologized for not being more open with her about his issues and for hurting her.
“I just miss Bruce. It’s gonna take a minute for me to mourn that relationship. I’m trying so hard to process that pain. It’s a struggle. I wake up in the morning and realize this is happening,” she said. “It’s like I have to mourn Bruce Jenner. I’m confused what happens to Bruce … I look at pictures of you and the kids and I get really sad … Bruce died.”
Bruce told Kris he still loves her and wants to be part of her life and asked if there was anything he could do to make it better for her, to which she responded:
“Live the happiest life you can live. That’s all I care about. That you’re going through all of this for an amazing outcome. And that you can find the peace that you’ve been searching for. You were a great dad, a great friend, a great partner. At the end of the day it’s not about my feelings.”
Note: Though Jenner has come out as, “for all intents and purposes, a woman,” he has not yet indicated that he would like to be known by a new name or female pronouns, so this story uses male pronouns.
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