Kim Kardashian Hints The Secret To Keeping Their Family Show On The Air Was Caitlyn Jenner's Transition

Kim Kardashian is crediting Caitlyn Jenner for extending the life of their long-running family reality show. During a recent appearance on "The Graham Norton Show," Kim, 45, opened up about filming the series in the early days and revealed her family's drama with Caitlyn was a key factor in keeping it on the air.

According to Kim, her family had no idea how successful their reality show would become when they began filming in the early 2000s. "We shot the pilot and had no idea what it would turn into, but 20 years on it is still going," she said.

"Keeping Up with the Kardashians" first aired in October 2007 and concluded in June 2021. The E! Network aired over 280 episodes of the series across 20 seasons, excluding the show's eight spin-offs.

While the show remained popular for years, constantly creating compelling content proved challenging. Fortunately, one significant storyline delivered intense, real-life drama all on its own: Caitlyn's transition.

"The shows write themselves. Once when we wondered what might happen next my stepdad turned into a woman and there were two more seasons right there!" Kim joked.

Caitlyn's transition became a trending topic following her 2015 Vanity Fair cover shoot, in which she admitted that finally living as her true self meant more to her than anything else.

"This shoot was about my life and who I am as a person," she said. "It's not about the fanfare, it's not about people cheering in the stadium, it's not about going down the street and everybody giving you 'that-a-boy, Bruce,' pat on the back, okay. This is about your life."

In episodes of their family reality show, Caitlyn spent a considerable portion of the later seasons working on her strained relationship with some of her family members, including her ex-wife, Kris Jenner.

The pair were married for 22 years before Caitlyn's transition. After her surgery, the Olympian released a memoir, "The Secrets of My Life," in which she hinted that Kris was aware of her desires to transition, sparking chaos among the family.

Kris opened up about confronting Caitlyn over the publication in a previous episode, saying, "I was curious and said, ‘What the h-ll is going on?’ She [Caitlyn] said, ‘You just would never understand.'"

"And then, all through the book, Kris knew. ‘Kris knew before I even made love to her.’ I'm like, ‘What?'" Kris continued. "None of it makes sense."

She went on, accusing Caitlyn of being a liar who was trying to ruin her reputation. "Why does everything have to be that Kris is such a b-tch and an a—hole?" she said.

Years after Caitlyn's transition, an insider close to the former professional athlete revealed that she began feeling regret over Kris learning of her transition through network executives. According to the source, it "hurt" Caitlyn to learn she couldn't share the news herself.

The Blast previously documented Kris' anger over her ex-husband's bombshell admission about using hormones decades earlier in the '80s.

"When I met Bruce, he told me that he had done hormones back in the early '80s. This was a conversation that took place in the early '90s. So, what he was telling me happened a decade earlier, and he never really explained it," she said.

"Why would you want to be married and have kids if this is what you wanted since you were a little boy?…Why would you not explain this all to me?"

Since transitioning, Caitlyn has settled into her new life, spending time with her animals, children, and extended family. Consequently, she says she has no free time for dating—and isn't looking for it, either.

The 73-year-old admitted in a previous interview that she was leaving dating on the back burner, saying, "I'm fine. I'm not even close to looking for a relationship. I'll never have a relationship in the future. I just don't see that in my life. I am not looking for that."