Carissa Duhamel – Copy Editor
Fans of hit E! show “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” were enlightened to a fact that may come as a shock to just about no one, and that is that Kris and Bruce Jenner are now separated. The pair, who have been married for the past 22 years with two daughters to show for it, publicly admitted that they are living separately on Oct. 8 and “are much happier this way,” as they told E! News.
The couple claims their separation has been made on amicable terms, as evidenced by photos posted on the Kardashian family matriarch’s Instagram post-separation announcement of Bruce, 63, and his boys smiling happily in the company of his estranged wife, Kris, 57, but ties to E! show “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” may play a part in the portrayal of that pleasant picture. Bruce is still under contract to continue appearing on Kris’ reality brainchild for another season before being granted freedom from in house cameramen, which may be the cause for snapping seemingly civil images like those posted to Kris and Bruce’s son, Brody Jenner’s personal Instagram pages.
“Even though we are separated, we will always remain best friends and, as always, our family will remain our number one priority,” the couple said to E!, echoing their publicly presented appearance of healthy and mature resolution of marital problems.
Their independent actions, however, have already contradicted this façade.
Kris told New You Magazine the one regret she had in life was divorcing Robert Kardashian, now deceased and father of her first four children.
“The one regret, if I had to do it over, would be divorcing Robert Kardashian,” Kris said before adding, “But then there wouldn’t have been Kendall and Kylie, so that’s the way I look at that.”
Bruce, on the other hand, has gone public about the fact he has been living in their Malibu beach home away from Kris for the past year and focused on the present by making his refusal to participate in staged storylines on “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” concocted by Kris anymore.
“She knows that a great storyline to win back viewers would be to watch Kris and Bruce to start dating again — and perhaps, even get married again. But it’s a pipe dream, because Bruce won’t allow it,” a source close to the “Kardashian” production told Radar Online, “He has been very clear to everyone, behind-the-scenes. He won’t fake scenes or story-lines anymore.”
Bruce has also been rumored to only agree to participate in scenes interacting with his children, boys Brody and Bruce from a previous marriage, and daughters Kendall and Kylie from his marriage to Kris.
As Bruce finally cuts the strings from puppeteer Kris Jenner amidst ongoing Lamar Odom drama and star Kim Kardashian’s abbreviated inclusion in the show due to her new motherhood to non-Kris-compliant baby daddy Kanye West’s child, is the Kardashian reality show empire on the edge of decline? Signs seem to point in this direction, as viewership has declined by over one million viewers in recent episodes; on Sep. 29 “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” only brought in 1.79 million viewers, as compared to 3.02 million for the season’s premiere. And with only one season left in the family’s contract with E!, channel executives may be inclined not to renew the show for another season.
Viewers will simply have to sit and wait to watch how the clan handles these multiple layers of controversy, and see if Kris can possibly salvage some seemingly wholesome plot from the wreckage of what seemed like a picture perfect family.
