If you look back on the past 50 years of iconic TV moms — from Lucille Ball to Renata Klein on Big Little Lies — they all have a few things in common: They are master multitaskers. They love their children fiercely. And they will stop at nothing when it comes to protecting their family's reputation.
In the reality TV universe, there's one mother who's turned those traits into a multi-billion dollar empire: Kris Jenner. The matriarch and manager of the Kardashian-Jenner universe is one of the most powerful (and richest) moms in the world, and in honor of her influence, her youngest daughter, Kylie Jenner, has gifted her the most appropriate Mother's Day present imaginable: a limited edition Kylie Cosmetics Momager Kit that's exclusively available at Ulta.
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In the days after its release, we hopped on the phone with Kris to talk Mother's Day gifts, the most memorable late-night calls she's gotten from her kids, and what she actually thinks about Kylie's controversial "self-made" title.
What's the most extra gift one of your kids has given you for Mother's Day?
"The one gift I really loved is when Kourtney bought me a surfboard from the Beverly Hills Hotel. I thought, 'Well OK, what am I going to do with a surfboard?' She knew I loved all the things at the hotel, like the wallpaper and the cute designs. I hung it up outside on the patio of my house. I’ve used it as an art piece — I just haven't surfed on it."
What has it been like for you to see nearly all your children become parents themselves?
"Kourtney just had her 40th birthday and it makes you sit down and really look at your life — it goes by so fast. Everything happens around here at such a crazy-fast pace that I remind myself all the time to be thankful for the blessings. They're my whole heart, and they just keep coming! It's wild."
What's the most memorable late-night call one of them has made to you about their own kids?
"The first one I ever got was the most alarming. It was when Mason ate peanut butter and his face started blowing up and his throat started closing. They had to rush him to the hospital. He had a peanut butter allergy for the longest time. He’s fine now. The scariest is always the first time.
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"The most recent one that comes to mind is a week ago or so when we went to Palm Springs and Saint, my little grandson, we discovered he might be allergic to grass. We ended up in the E.R., but all is well — we figured it out."
What’s been your favorite Mother’s Day to date?
"I think the most memorable Mother’s Day was, I wanna say, 12 years ago. My kids came into my room and said, 'What do you want to do today?' And I said, 'You know what I wanna do? I wanna go to Disneyland.' We got two cars and we drove to Disneyland and we had the time of our lives. We ate all the churros that they could serve, saw all the shows, and ate the barbecue."
There’s continued debate around Kylie being called America’s youngest “self-made” billionaire. As her mom, what do you think of her “self-made” title?
"I feel like she’s 100% self made in the true sense of the word. She’s been independent her entire life — from the time she was a little girl all the way up to her teens. When she became old enough to make a great decision, she took the money she had earned working since she was eight or nine years old, and she put that into her business. Nobody gave her any financial help whatsoever. She saved up her own money and built this amazing business and I just feel like there’s nothing not self made about that."
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Given that one of the Lip Kits in this set is about Todd Kraines, we have to ask: What were you thinking when you got that first prank call?
"My kids are always pranking me. For some reason, I fall for it every single time. When I first started getting these calls, I really thought that Todd Kraines had lost his mind. I’m like, 'Why does this kid keep calling me?' I remember being at Nobu in Malibu one day and the maitre d' came over and said, 'You have a phone call at the desk,' and it was Todd Kraines! You’d think I would learn by now."
What are your plans for Mother's Day this year?
"Every time we have something special to celebrate, it’s so much fun because we do it in such a big way. For Mother's Day, we usually gather at Kourtney’s house and we make this thing called Beeshee, which is an Armenian breakfast treat. We look forward to it all year long, it’s so much fun."