Robert True Houghton was Kris Jenner’s biological father and an aircraft engineer whose life ended long before the Kardashian-Jenner family became famous. He was married to Mary Jo Campbell, and they had two daughters, Kris and Karen Houghton. His name returned to public attention in 2018 when Kris explained why her granddaughter was named True Thompson.
Robert True Houghton (1931–1975) was Kris Jenner’s biological father and an aircraft engineer. He married Mary Jo Campbell in 1954, and they had two daughters, Kris and Karen Houghton, before separating around 1962. He died after a car accident in Mexico. His middle name later inspired the family name True Thompson.
Family Profile
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Robert True Houghton |
| Also Known As | Bob Houghton |
| Birth Year | 1931, according to genealogical records |
| Death Year | 1975 |
| Age at Death | Approximately 43 |
| Nationality | American |
| Profession | Aircraft engineer |
| Military Background | Former U.S. Air Force member, according to Mary Jo Campbell |
| Father | True Otis Houghton |
| Mother | Mary Lee Pickens, according to genealogical records |
| Former Wife | Mary Jo Campbell |
| Children | Kris Jenner and Karen Houghton |
| Famous Relative | Kris Jenner, television personality and business manager |
Who Was Robert True Houghton?
Robert True Houghton, also called Bob Houghton, was an American engineer associated with the San Diego area of California. Biographical coverage of Kris Jenner identifies him as her father and describes his work in aircraft engineering.
His identity as Kris’s father is well documented, although other aspects of his biography are less certain. An especially useful source is a September 2026 Vanity Fair excerpt from Jonathan Van Meter’s Citizen Kim, which includes recollections from Robert’s former wife, Mary Jo Campbell.
You Might Also Like: Who Is Vera Davich? Exclusive Look at Scott Patterson’s Ex-Wife
Early Life, Education, and Work
Some family-history databases place Robert’s birth in 1931 and connect him to San Diego. Their reported birth dates disagree. Publicly accessible reporting does not establish a definitive school history or a complete record of his childhood.
Mary Jo recalled meeting Robert while both were taking classes at the same college. According to her account in Citizen Kim, he had recently left the United States Air Force. His rank and dates of service are not established.
His occupation as an aircraft engineer appears in Biography’s profile of Kris Jenner. His employer and projects are not identified. Nothing in the available credible coverage supports claims that he owned an aviation company or amassed a large personal fortune.
Marriage to Mary Jo Campbell
Mary Jo Campbell was born in Arkansas and later made a life in Southern California. Before meeting Robert, she had entered a short-lived marriage to her high school sweetheart. She described that earlier relationship and her later meeting with Robert in interviews included in the 2026 book excerpt.
Robert and Mary Jo married in 1954. Their first daughter, Kristen Mary Houghton, was born on November 5, 1955, and their younger daughter, Karen, arrived in 1958.
The marriage deteriorated, and the couple separated or divorced around 1962, when Kris was still a young child. Mary Jo described conflicts in the relationship in her own recollections. Those statements reflect her perspective.
Mary Jo’s subsequent work also helps explain the environment in which Kris grew up. After the separation, Mary Jo and her family developed retail businesses in the San Diego area, including shops specializing in candles, clothing, and children’s goods. The Vanity Fair excerpt traces how this retail background influenced later generations. Those ventures belong to Mary Jo’s professional history and should not be attributed to Robert.
His Relationship With Kris Jenner and Karen Houghton
Following her parents’ separation, Kris and Karen were raised primarily by their mother. Biography reports that the family moved from the Point Loma area of San Diego to Clairemont, where Kris attended school.
Van Meter’s account says Kris continued to see her father occasionally during adolescence. The same excerpt reports that contact later ended after he moved to Long Beach.
Karen, Kris’s younger sister, lived a more private life. She died in March 2024, at age 65, a loss Kris acknowledged in a public tribute. ABC News reported her death and the family statement, confirming the sisterly relationship that is central to Robert’s biography.
How Harry Shannon Fits Into the Family
Mary Jo later married businessman Harry Shannon, who helped raise Kris and Karen. Robert True Houghton was Kris’s biological father; Harry Shannon was her stepfather.
A separate Robert, attorney Robert Kardashian Sr., married Kris in 1978. He was the father of Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and Rob Kardashian and was not the same person as Robert Houghton. Kris later had Kendall and Kylie Jenner during her marriage to Caitlyn Jenner.
Harry died in 2003, decades after Robert Houghton’s death. Robert Houghton’s place belongs to the earliest part of Kris’s family history. The Los Angeles Times’ account of Mary Jo Shannon’s life also documents these relationships.
Robert True Houghton’s Cause of Death
Robert Houghton died in 1975, when Kris was 19 years old. Established biographical summaries identify a car accident in Mexico as the cause of his death. His death preceded the rise of the family’s television careers.
The 2026 Vanity Fair excerpt presents a more detailed reported account, attributed to a woman described as Robert’s fiancée. It describes a collision during a journey in Mexico. That passage is a later retelling, not an independently examined police investigation, so the precise sequence of events should not be stated with greater certainty than its source allows.
Online memorial and ancestry pages also conflict over the specific day in March 1975, with different dates appearing in different records. For a general biography, the strongly supported year, country, and traffic-accident cause are more useful than choosing an exact date without convincing documentation.
Parents, Ancestry, and Family Background
Kris directly identified her father as Robert True Houghton and her paternal grandfather as True Otis Houghton in an April 2018 public message. A Houghton surname genealogy also identifies Robert’s mother as Mary Lee Pickens, although that detail rests on secondary family-history material.
Questions about Robert True Houghton’s ethnicity are sometimes mixed with discussion of the Kardashian family’s Armenian heritage. That well-documented Armenian ancestry comes through Kim Kardashian’s father, Robert Kardashian Sr., and his parents. It should not automatically be assigned to Kris’s biological father simply because he was another grandfather in the family.
The available reporting does not provide a thoroughly documented account of every branch of Robert Houghton’s ancestry. A general reference to his American nationality is reasonable, but a more specific ethnic classification requires records that reliably establish it.
His Grandchildren and the Story Behind the Name True
Through Kris Jenner, Robert’s grandchildren include Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and Rob Kardashian, along with Kendall and Kylie Jenner. Through Karen, he was also the grandfather of her daughter, Natalie Zettel.
His name gained wider recognition in April 2018 after Khloé Kardashian announced the birth of her daughter, True Thompson. Kris then publicly explained that her own grandfather was True Otis Houghton and that her father carried True as his middle name. Entertainment Tonight reported her explanation at the time.
Khloé later explained that her grandmother Mary Jo had suggested True during a family discussion about baby names. According to her account, the name stayed with her throughout pregnancy. True Thompson is Robert’s great-granddaughter, and the choice provides a documented connection between him and a generation born more than four decades after his death.
Net Worth, Height, and Burial Records
Online searches also ask about Robert’s net worth, height, and final resting place. Reliable entertainment profiles do not establish a personal net-worth figure or a documented height. His engineering profession cannot be used to calculate assets or income, and the fortunes of his famous descendants say nothing reliable about his own estate.
Genealogy and memorial websites may be helpful leads when looking for historical records, but contributors sometimes publish conflicting dates and locations. A name appearing in a memorial database is not, by itself, independent proof of every associated claim.
Conclusion
Robert True Houghton was Kris Jenner’s biological father, Mary Jo Campbell’s former husband, and the father of Kris and Karen Houghton. He worked in aircraft engineering, died following a vehicle accident in Mexico in 1975, and left a family connection that remains visible in his descendants. The naming of True Thompson is the clearest publicly documented example of how his name has been carried into a new generation.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What was Robert True Houghton’s cause of death?
Robert True Houghton died following a car accident in Mexico in 1975. He was approximately 43 years old, and his daughter Kris Jenner was 19. Published accounts differ on the precise date and circumstances of the accident.
2. Who were Robert True Houghton’s parents?
His father was True Otis Houghton, whose name Kris Jenner publicly acknowledged in 2018. Genealogical records identify his mother as Mary Lee Pickens, although the available family-history entries should be distinguished from independently reviewed primary documents.
3. Who are Robert True Houghton’s grandchildren?
Through Kris Jenner, his grandchildren include Kourtney Kardashian, Kim Kardashian, Khloé Kardashian, Rob Kardashian, Kendall Jenner, and Kylie Jenner. He was also the grandfather of Natalie Zettel through his younger daughter, Karen Houghton.
4. Why was Khloé Kardashian’s daughter named True?
Kris Jenner explained in April 2018 that True was a family name. Her grandfather was True Otis Houghton, and her father was Robert True Houghton. The name therefore links Khloé Kardashian’s daughter, True Thompson, to earlier generations of Kris’s paternal family.
5. What was Robert True Houghton’s net worth?
A reliable figure for Robert True Houghton’s net worth has not been established in accessible mainstream biographies. He worked as an aircraft engineer, but his salary, estate value, and personal assets cannot be calculated from his occupation or the later financial success of his descendants.
You Might Also Like: Who Is Mary Jo Campbell? Exclusive Look at Kris Jenner’s Mother
For More Verified Content Visit Us: Info Life