Depending on who you are, Caitlyn Jenner might be a polarizing figure. This seems especially true for her children: Sons Brandon, Brody, and Burt Jenner seem to definitely feel differently about Caitlyn's parenting than Kylie and Kendall Jenner do, not to mention Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and Rob Kardashian. Caitlyn also has a daughter, Cassandra Marino, who largely stays out of the spotlight.
Caitlyn and Kris Jenner have often praised one another for how they parented all of their children together, and Kris' children have usually had really positive things to say about what it was like to have the former Bruce Jenner as one of their parents. When Kris and then-Bruce first met, her oldest daughter Kourtney was only 12, so she and her siblings definitely grew up with their new stepdad very much a part of their family.
More from LittleThings: Son Uses Own Money To Buy Parents Gorgeous House After Years Of Struggling To Feed Family
However, Brandon Jenner was 10 when his dad married Kris, and it seems like that he really doesn't have a lot of positive feelings about what that change meant for himself and his siblings. In 2022 he contributed an essay to the book To Me, He Was Just Dad: Stories of Growing Up With Famous Fathers. In the essay, he shares a few startling details about what his family life was like after his dad married Kris.
In the essay, Brandon shares: "I didn't see my father more than half a dozen times between the ages eight and 25. Sadly the infrequent exchanges felt more like staged photo opportunities than real bonding. In fact, they were stage photo ops for ‘family’ Christmas cards."
That had to be really hard for Brandon — it seems like one day his dad was there, and then his dad just wasn't.
Brandon also said that his dad bought him a bike for $250, but then said Brandon had to promise to pay back the money. I sometimes joke that my kid owes me for all the video games I buy him, but it's just that: a joke. It definitely doesn't sound like Brandon felt like his dad was only kidding around.
Weirdly, it sounds like his dad really clung to the idea that Brandon had to pay for the bike. Brandon goes on to write that several weeks later, they were at the beach, and his dad said that if Brandon could hit a tree with an apricot, he only had to pay half the cost of the bike. "Perhaps he was (proud), but all he said was, ‘Now you just owe me one hundred twenty-five dollars.’ I was eight and had no idea how I’d make the money."
Brandon adds that meeting Kris Jenner seemed to make everything worse for himself and his siblings. "After Dad met and married Kris, family became a business for him, and I stayed away for most of my teenage years. I didn’t want to be a part of their dynamic. I know now, though, that Dad was pretty unhappy in that house and felt like he wasn’t treated well."
However, he does also say that his dad's transition really changed her for the better, and that if she had felt supported in her decision sooner, things might have been different "not only because I think she would have been happier but because I think we could have built a stronger relationship earlier."
Brandon's brother, Brody, has also spoken publicly about his complicated feelings surrounding Caitlyn. On an episode of The Hills: New Beginnings, Brody said, "I didn't really grow up with my dad. I didn't really, you know? When I was really little, we got to spend a little bit of time. When he started, you know, obviously with the family, the Kardashian family and all of that, I didn't really see much of him."
Brody also says that when his dad transitioned to being Caitlyn, a whole new side of her opened up: "Caitlyn is a totally different person than Bruce. It's her true self, but Bruce was always holding a lot back and being somebody totally different."
However, the two still don't spend a lot of time together: "She's happy and running around. She's off living her life. And what I've learned is to not expect too much from her."
For her part, Caitlyn hasn't seemed too eager to share her side of the story. She has said that the time period in the 1980s Brandon and Brody reference as when she was not involved with them was also when she began taking female hormones and was actively considering transitioning. She has also said that it was still not a good reason to drop out of the lives of her children: "There’s no excuse for not being a good parent, no matter how many problems that you have. No excuse for that."
Caitlyn has also demonstrated a lot with her actions, even if she hasn't been as open with her words. In 2017, she said, "My life revolves around my kids. And they’ll be in my life until the day I die." She also added that her granddaughter Eva calls her "boom-boom" and "She loves that name. Actually it’s kind of fun because the grandkids will never know my former life. They only know me."
While the six Jenner children — Brandon, Brody, Cassandra, Burt, Kylie, and Kendall — all support Caitlyn, apart from Brandon and Brody, the rest haven't really commented on her life. In 2017, the six released a statement together that said, "We love our father and have deep admiration for her bravery in pursuit of becoming a more authentic version of herself. Every family is different with its own unique set of milestones, but we can honestly say that Caitlyn's gender transition has brought our family closer together and for that we are grateful."
