Kris Jenner’s mother, Mary Jo “MJ” Shannon, has passed away at the age of 91.
Jenner shared the heartbreaking news in an Instagram post on Thursday (July 16).
“Today, we said goodbye to my beautiful Mommy MJ,” Jenner, 70, wrote. “There are no words that could ever capture what she has meant to me or the heartbreak of having to say goodbye. My mom was the heart of our family.
“She taught me everything that truly matters… to love your family fiercely, to be kind, to show up for the people you love, and to never take a single moment together for granted.”
Mary Jo “MJ” Shannon, born Mary Jo Campbell, was born in Arkansas on July 26, 1934. According to E! News, she first married and later divorced her high school sweetheart before tying the knot with Kris Jenner’s father, Robert True “Bob” Houghton, in 1954.
Jenner was born in 1955, followed by her sister, Karen Houghton, in 1958. After separating from Houghton in the early 1960s, Shannon married businessman Harry Shannon, who helped raise both daughters.
In the early 2000s, MJ Shannon owned a children’s clothing store in San Diego when her husband was involved in a car accident. While hospitalized, he died from a staph infection, a loss Jenner previously described as “so devastating” for their family.
Over the years, MJ Shannon made several appearances on Keeping Up With the Kardashians and later on Hulu’s The Kardashians. In an episode that aired last year, Jenner revealed that her mother had been struggling both emotionally and physically following the death of Karen Houghton at the age of 65.
“She’s frail,” Jenner said at the time. “This makes me really sad. I just hate it when she’s in so much pain.”
Reflecting on her mother’s passing, Jenner shared another emotional tribute on Instagram. “My heart is broken into a million pieces,” she wrote of Shannon, who was a grandmother to 13. “Thank you for giving me the greatest childhood and oh what a beautiful blessed life… I love you forever Mommy. Thank you for giving us everything.”
