Is Kendall Jenner Gay? Why This Rumor Won't Die
Has she ever dated a woman?
Getty Kendall Jenner is sort of the mystery Kardashian. She is just as famous as any of her siblings but her personal life is never the central plotline for her family's reality TV show.
While her sisters have broadcasts their relationships, breakups, engagements, weddings, divorces, and pregnancies, Jenner has kept her love life much quieter. Sure, she dates, but none of her romantic relationships have involved her significant other signing a release for E! network to put them on air.
It's possible that the 24-year-old supermodel has learned from her siblings' very public relationship messes that it's better to keep some things away from the camera crew. But some have wondered if she might be gay and doesn't want to talk about that facet of her life.
So, is Kendall Jenner gay? And why won't the Internet let this rumor rest, even though she's publicly confirmed shes' straight?
1. Jenner is the second youngest of the Kardashian and Jenner families.
Jenner's parents are Kris Jenner and Caitlyn Jenner, though Caitlyn was known as Bruce when Kendall was growing up. Each of her parents came into that marriage with four children from previous relationships.
Kris' kids are Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and Robert Kardashian. Caitlyn is dad to Burt, Casey, Brandon and Brody Jenner. Kendall Jenner was born in 1995, four years after her parents got married. Her younger sister Kylie arrived in 1997.
2. Jenner has grown up on camera.
Starting in 2007, Jenner's family became stars of a reality series called Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Two years earlier, her brother Brody had embarked on his own reality career starting with a show called The Princes of Malibu and later on The Hills with brother Brandon as well.
Jenner was only 12 years old when she became a household name and got to grow up learning firsthand about the hazards of trying to live life in the public eye.
3. Jenner's family has had some seriously public relationship drama.
Jenner has had a front-row seat to some of the reality television world's most famous relationship disasters. In 2011, her sister Kim married NBA star Kris Humphries after dating for less than a year. The marriage was even shorter than the courtship; the couple filed for divorce after 72 days.
Sister Kourtney had a decade of off-again-on-again drama with Scott Disick, the father of her three children. The couple never married and they publicly navigated his addiction issues for years.
Jenner's sisters Khloe and Kylie both had babies in 2018 and things with their baby daddies are, well... complicated. In Khloe's case, their split was due to a very public cheating scandal where her NBA player boyfriend Tristan Thompson was sleeping around while he was on the road and allegedly hooked up with Kylie's BFF Jordyn Woods.
Jenner's brother Rob had a truly epic disaster of a relationship with model Blac Chyna. The couple got engaged while they were expecting a baby but the wedding never happened. They broke up shortly after the baby was born, reconciled briefly before finally calling it quits for good. In the following years, the two have battled over revenge porn, allegations of abuse, and custody arrangements for their daughter.
4. Jenner learned from her siblings' mistakes.
After watching all the different ways a relationship can be affected by media attention, it's no wonder Jenner is more private about her dating life than her siblings were. In an interview, she said credited her family's experience as a learning opportunity for her.
"I got a glimpse of how my sisters dealt with [the attention] and it’s cool to learn from that," she explained. "For me, a lot of things are very special and very sacred, like my friends and relationships, and I personally think that bringing things into the public makes everything so much messier."
5. That's not to say she doesn't date. She does.
Tabloids love to speculate about who she might be seeing and she's been tied to a lot of different people over the years. She seldom confirms anything is going on, however.
In 2016, she was linked to Harry Styles but in interviews, even Khloe couldn't be sure what was truly going on between the couple. She's dated a whole bunch of NBA players including Jordan Clarkson in 2016, Blake Griffin in 2019, and Ben Simmons in 2019. She even dated A$AP Rocky for a while in 2017.
But with all these flings, she never talked about it with the press and she skillfully manages to (mostly) avoid being photographed with her dates.
Jenner and ex-boyfriend Ben Simmons.
6. So, is Kendall Jenner gay? Why won't the rumors die down?
Her lack of conspicuous boyfriends has spawned rumors she has girlfriends instead. In a 2018 interview, she explained she knew about the rumors and to some degree, understood where they were coming from.
“So it was a thing for a minute because no one ever saw me with a guy,” she said. “I would always go that extra mile to be low-key with guys, sneaking around all the time."
The reason it was a thing for a minute was at least partly because of her close friendship with Lauren Perez at one time. Perez, who hung out with the Jenner girls and other celebs like Bella Hadid, has an Instagram feed full of pictures of herself and Jenner. The two of them aren't shy about being physical in photos and the snuggle up comfortably together, only fueling the rumors.
She captioned this one "Cuddle sesh."
7. Jenner says she isn't gay, but is 'down for experience.'
“I don’t think I have a bisexual or gay bone in my body, but I don’t know! Who knows?! I’m all down for experience — not against it whatsoever — but I’ve never been there before,” Jenner has said when asked directly about the rumors. "I’m not gay. I have literally nothing to hide... I would never hide something like that.”
It's true Jenner has been consistently supportive of her dad Caitlyn in her transition from male to female and she's never indicated anything but support for the LGBTQ community and she has even attended Pride events.
These days, Jenner seems to be single. Or maybe she isn't and she just hasn't gotten caught with a new love interest yet. Or maybe she's gay and this all part of Kris Jenner's master PR plan. Guess only time will tell.
Rebekah Kuschmider has been writing about celebrities, pop culture, entertainment, and politics since 2010. She is the creator of the blog FeminXer and she is a cohost of the weekly podcast The More Perfect Union.