Kardashians have Newfoundland connection
Former U.S. Olympian Caitlyn Jenner and her kids, including two of the Kardashian clan, are part Newfoundlander.
Jenner’s paternal grandmother was Bertha Mary Yarn, born and raised in Harbour Breton, Fortune Bay. At age 20, in 1901, she was listed in census documents as a patient at Victoria General Hospital in Halifax, where her occupation was noted as “housework.” Bertha later married Hugh Burton Jenner of New Brunswick, and they had three children, including Jenner’s father Bill, before immigrating to Massachusetts in 1925. Bertha died in Michigan in 1980.
“Bill had been born in the city of St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador,” Jenner writes of her father in her memoir, “Secrets of My Life,” released last spring.
Archival documents show Bill had actually been born in Saint John, New Brunswick.
Like Jenner, Bill was a champion runner: he competed in the U.S. Army Olympics in Germany in 1945, winning the silver medal in the 100-metre dash. An arbourist, he died in California in 2000.
Jenner, 67, won a gold medal in the decathlon at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Openly transgender, she starred in “I Am Cait,” a reality TV show focused on her transition, last year.
On TV, Jenner is best known for appearing on “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” on which she has starred with ex-wife Kris Jenner, daughters Kylie and Kendall Jenner, and stepchildren Kim, Kourtney, Khloe and Rob Kardashian since 2007.
Jenner’s other children are Burt, Brandon and Brody Jenner and Casey Marino.