Caitlyn Jenner – ‘I couldn’t be more proud of my billionaire kids – but I don’t see them much, they’ve moved on’

When Keeping Up with the Kardashians made its debut, Caitlyn Jenner – formerly Bruce – was the most famous member of her blended TV brood. Sixteen years on and billions of dollars later, the ex-Olympian is the first to admit that is no longer the case.

Dressed in a glamorous power suit, Caitlyn is camera-ready with a Kardashian-esque face of make-up and plenty of stories to tell about her influential family. The 73-year-old is revealing all about her daughters, step-kids and ex-wife Kris Jenner in Sky’s documentary House of Kardashian – a project the family refused to take part in. Caitlyn tells OK! that although she dishes secrets in the show, she also sticks up for the world-renowned women.

“I’ve been around television a long time and I know the power of ‘the edit’. TV can be pretty brutal,” she says. “I knew the family was not doing it and I want to tell the story in a very positive way.

“We’ve got two ‘billionaires’ in the family [with Kim and Kylie] and there’s probably one more on the way – that’s pretty amazing and I couldn’t be more proud of them!”

Caitlyn married divorcee Kris Jenner in 1991, gaining Kim, Kourtney, Chloe and Rob Kardashian as step kids before welcoming Kendall and Kylie into the world a few years later.

But since splitting from Kris in 2013 and coming out as a transgender woman shortly after, Caitlyn isn’t “involved with that side of the family” as much.

“I would always like to see them more as a parent, but they have their own lives,” she sighs. “I’ve got 22 grandchildren, number 23 is on the way [as Kourtney is pregnant], and a lot of kids. Everybody’s lives have moved on. But do I stay in contact with them all? Absolutely I do.

“I see them here and there. It’s tough to get everybody together but we’re all texting each other.”

The documentary details everything from Kris’ beginnings as the socialite housewife of lawyer Robert Kardashian to the family’s ascent into celebrity thanks to Kim Kardashian’s sex tape with her then-boyfriend Ray J. Caitlyn doesn’t hold back in her commentary, telling the cameras that Kim “calculated from the beginning” how to become famous.

“I don’t look at that in a bad way,” she explains. “Sometimes I hear, ‘Kimberley wanted to be famous’ and it’s used as a negative towards her. But Kimberley is very smart. She has taken that and built it into an enormous business. She never stopped working.”

What’s the secret to Kim’s business success? It’s staying frugal, according to Caitlyn. “When she was 18, she wanted out to the house and I helped her move into an apartment. Every time we’d take a load up and head back down for another load, she’d turn off all the lights because she was paying for them. I was just dying laughing. She watches every dollar and it’s the same with all the rest of the kids. Every one of them has a tremendous work ethic.”

Despite the recent rift in the family, Caitlyn insists that she talks to Kim “all the time” – and cut off her ex-husband Kanye West, who reportedly married architect Bianca Censori this year, out of loyalty. “I was always friends with Kanye, we got along very well.

“But being respectful to Kim, I really haven’t talked to him in the last couple of years. That’s just the way it is,” she says. “It’s a family thing!”

She’s still just as close with model Kendall, 27, and make-up mogul Kylie, 26, who grew up in the spotlight of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Despite the pressures of fame, Caitlyn says the biggest difficulty of all was just “getting them home to dinner on time”.

“When Kendall was 15, I was car-pooling her to school and she goes, really quiet out of nowhere, ‘I’m going to be a Victoria’s Secret model someday.’ I say, ‘Yeah great!’ But I like when young people have a dream like that and they’re willing to work for it,” she says. “Three years later, she paid her own way to New York Fashion week and called me to say, ‘I got Marc Jacobs!’”

Meanwhile, Kylie is a social media force to be reckoned with, boasting over 400 million followers across her platforms. Caitlyn proudly recalls how one tweet from Kylie complaining about Snapchat caused the company’s stock to plummet by $1.3 billion.

“She called to say that Snapchat was sending something to the house and I said, ‘Make sure it’s not a bomb!’ They sent her three massive bouquets of flowers. You don’t cross my family,” she grins.

The Jenner girls’ love lives are just as successful at the moment, with Kylie dating Hollywood star Timothee Chalamet while Kendall steps out with Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny.

“All I can say is both Kendall and Kylie are extremely happy right now,” Caitlyn smiles. “As their dad, that makes me happy.”

She knows better than to meddle in their romances however, with Caitlyn saying she stopped dishing out dating advice long ago. “I told these girls from the beginning, ‘Who are you going to date?’ Kylie will pick someone up in a $75 million jet, brand-spanking new, and take him to San Francisco for dinner. That would be a little intimidating for some guys.

“I’ve mentioned before, ‘I know somebody that would be just perfect for you,’ and Kendall will go, ‘Don’t even bring that subject up. Dad don’t even go there!’” she continues. “So I learned a long time ago to just stay out of it.”

The kids aren’t the only ones who’ve gone from strength to strength since their TV debut in the noughties – with Caitlyn thriving since her gender transition eight years ago. In The House of Kardashian, the ex-Olympian opens up about feeling suicidal when pictures of her recovering from a tracheal shave – one of the first steps of transitioning from male to female – leaked to the press at the time. “I came out publicly because I had no choice,” she tells OK! “I tried to do it with as much dignity as I could but the media went crazy.

“The biggest thing is the support of my family and all of my kids because I talked with each of them one at a time – I didn’t want them to gang up on me. But all of the kids were just concerned for me and whether I would be OK.

“My life is very simple today. I wake up, I just be myself all day long and I don’t have to lie to anybody. Although it takes a lot longer to get ready in the morning.”

As for the future of the Kardashian-Jenner dynasty, the family continues to grow, with Caitlyn boasting 12 biological grandchildren and 10 grandsprogs from her step-kids. Although she thinks the next generation should stay out of the limelight for now. “They’re kids, let them be kids!” she says. “Leave them alone, let them go to the playground and have a good time.

“The mums have done well enough and these kids are going to be just fine. I don’t know if they really want to get into that side of the business.”

Ultimately, Caitlyn just wants to sing her family’s praises and hopes the documentary does their hard work justice. “The kids have done very, very well. Being successful and trying to accomplish something isn’t always easy – you have ups and downs.

“If you keep your nose to the grindstone, you can really build something all my kids have – it’s a big empire.”

House of Kardashian airs Sunday 8th October at 9pm on Sky Documentaries

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