What Caitlyn Jenner Promised to Kris Jenner’s Ex-husband Robert Kardashian on His Deathbed

Caitlyn (formerly Bruce) Jenner already began dating Kris Jenner when her ex-husband Robert Kardashian Sr. was on his deathbed. The former couple had been separated and their divorce proceedings were still ongoing when Jenner saw Kris struggling. So, the TV personality took matters into her own hands and made an emotional promise to the "hurting" Kardashian Sr. 

Jenner recalled meeting Kris in 1990 in the 2023 released documentary House of Kardashian when Kris was having trouble seeking a divorce from the late attorney, "[Kris] was having a rough time with Robert in the divorce when I came into the picture. He was doing everything to kind of make her life miserable. I saw what was going on from the outside and just said, 'This is ridiculous.' So, I called Robert up and said, 'Hey, let's go to dinner,'" per Fox News.

"I basically said to him, 'Kris is moving on. Sorry, but she's moving on,'" Jenner told Kardashian Sr. "I said, 'I can take over from here. So, let's just make this final signing of the papers as simple as possible.' And he did." 

However, they remained in contact. The next year, in 1991, Jenner married Kris, and years later, when Kardashian Sr. succumbed to esophageal cancer, the former athlete went to meet him on his deathbed. "He was really hurting and I said to him, 'Hey, remember if I was in your position, my only worry would be for my kids. That the kids are gonna get through this. I just want you to know that I will always be there for the kids.' And he says, 'Oh, you didn't have to say that. I knew you would.' And a week later he died." 

(Robert) Kardashian Sr., the father of Kourtney, Kim, Khloe, and Rob, rose to fame as O.J. Simpson's defense attorney during the 1994 murder trial. The businessman and lawyer was married to Kris from 1978 to 1991. He was later diagnosed with esophageal cancer in July 2003 and he died within two months of his treatment on September 30, 2003, at the age of 59, per PEOPLE. 

Jenner and Kris' marriage lasted 22 years and they welcomed two daughters Kendall and Kylie Jenner. Years later, in the family's reality TV show The Kardashians, the now-68-year-old opened up about why she was unfaithful to Kardashian Sr. after daughter Khloe confronted her mother about it. "I think being really young and dumb is something that plays into it because you don't really understand the consequences of your actions," per E! News.

Despite trying to answer Khloe, Kris admitted after all these years, she still doesn't have a concrete answer, "I don't know, because he was such a great husband and such a great dad. And I think that I fell into a situation where I thought that the grass was greener somewhere else and I made a huge mistake. That's like my life's biggest regret."