Kris Jenner’s relationship with her late father, Robert Houghton, was always a little bit complicated. She was just seven when Houghton and MJ Campbell divorced, as written in the biography “Dirty Sexy Money” (via OK! Magazine). “Like many children in that situation, Kris could not shake the idea that she was somehow responsible for her dad leaving,” authors Cathy Griffin and Dylan Howard alleged. “Barely a day went by that Kris didn’t feel the sting of Bob’s abandonment,” they went on. “She longed for his attention and love. … It hurt her that he missed out on time together over the years. Kris had to fend off feelings that she wasn’t worthy or had done something wrong.”
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These feelings were complicated by Houghton’s alcoholism, which factored into his divorce from Campbell. His former girlfriend, Leslie Johnson, told Star (via Radar) that he “had a lot of charm” and that he ultimately regretted missing out on time with Jenner. “Talking about the situation was painful for him, but he did often say how much he missed his daughters and how pretty they were,” she added. Johnson eventually broke up with Houghton and became engaged to Vicky Thomsen. Thomsen was present when, one night, Houghton got behind the wheel after drinking margaritas and swerved into an oncoming truck. He died due to internal injuries sustained during the car crash. At the time, he was 42, and Jenner was just 19.
