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Faye Bradley

Contributing Online Editor, Style by SCMP


Mary Jo “MJ” Shannon née Campbell, ⁠grandmother of the ⁠Kardashian-Jenner family and ⁠a frequent guest on their US reality television show, died on Thursday at the age of 91.

Shannon was Kris Jenner’s mother ‌and grandmother to Kourtney, Kim, Khloé and Rob Kardashian, and Kendall and Kylie Jenner.
Kris Jenner announced her mother’s death in a post on Instagram.
“There are no words that could ever capture what she ⁠has meant to me or the heartbreak of having to ‌say goodbye,” Jenner said. “My mom was the heart of our family.”
Jenner said her mother ‌taught her to love her family fiercely, to ⁠be kind, ⁠to show up for the people she loves, and never to ‌take a single moment together for granted. Pretty much every member of the Kardashian-Jenner family has experienced some sort of spotlight on their lives, with some individuals (Kim, Khloé, Kourtney, Kylie and Kendall) getting more attention than others.

MJ’s passing comes two years after Jenner’s younger sister Karen Houghton’s death.
MJ, who celebrated her 91st birthday in August last year, was one of the crowd favourites to appear in Keeping Up with the Kardashians over the years. And when she was not stealing the show on reality TV episodes, she was being featured on her clan’s Instagram accounts.
Here’s more about the late Kardashian-Jenner grandma.
MJ was married three times

It’s not just Kim who’s been married thrice in the family. Per People, Arkansas-born MJ married her first husband, her high school sweetheart, when she was just 18, but they went their separate ways after just two months.
“We have so much in common. History repeats itself,” MJ was quoted saying to Kim on the Skims’ founder’s website and app in 2017. “I can’t believe it because I was married for two months at 18. Right out of high school I was given an engagement ring, a guy I had been going with for four years,” MJ said. “And then I just thought, ‘You know what? This isn’t really that much fun,’ so I got out of it.”
Not long after, MJ married Robert Houghton. The former couple welcomed Kris in 1955, and Karen in 1958, per People.
MJ and Robert got divorced when Kris was seven, and MJ ended up tying the knot again, the time with Harry Shannon, whom she stayed with until his tragic death in 2003 in a car crash.
She had two children

MJ had two children with her second husband – Kris Jenner, the popular “momager” credited as the mastermind behind the Kardashian-Jenners’ hugely successful empire, and Karen, who sadly passed away in March 2024 at the age of 65.
She was very close with her family

It goes without saying that this granny appeared to be very tight-knit with her famous family. Besides regularly featuring on her daughter and grandchildren’s Instagram accounts (with many of them having tens if not hundreds of millions of followers each), she was also asked to be one of two witnesses present for Kourtney and Travis Barker’s official courthouse nuptials in Santa Monica in 2022, per People.
What did she do for a living?

According to People, MJ was a model in her youth who went on to own a children’s clothing store for decades. The now-closed boutique was called Shannon & Company and first opened in 1980, in La Jolla, San Diego, California.
In 2017, Jenner told Haute Living, “My mom has a children’s clothing store – for 45 years. It’s called Shannon & Company, and I used to work there when I was young.”
Was Mary Jo rich?

While MJ’s wealth seems tiny compared to that of her daughter and grandkids, her bank balance is certainly better off than most. At the time of her death, her net worth was estimated to be US$5 million to US$10 million.
Additional contributions from Reuters and Sumnima Kandangwa


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All you need to know about Mary Jo Campbell, the Kardashian-Jenner matriarch who sadly passed away

MJ was Kris Jenner’s mother ‌and grandmother to Kourtney, Kim, Khloé ​and Rob Kardashian, and Kendall and Kylie Jenner. Photo: @krisjenner/Instagram

MJ and her daughter Kris Jenner back in the day. Photo: @krisjenner/Instagram

Kris Jenner announced MJ’s passing in an Instagram post. Photo: @krisjenner/Instagram

Kris Jenner posted this photo of MJ on her Instagram when her mum turned 91 last year. Photo: @krisjenner/Instagram

Karen Houghton (second from right), MJ’s other daughter, died in 2024. Photo: @krisjenner/Instagram

MJ (right front) was very close with her clan. Photo: @krisjenner/Instagram

MJ was a regular on her family’s reality shows and social media. Photo: @krisjenner/Instagram

Mary Jo Campbell and Kris Jenner made a glam mum-daughter pair. Photo: @krisjenner/Instagram

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Popularly known as MJ, the former model was a crowd favourite in Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and frequently popped up in her family’s Instagram posts


Popularly known as MJ, the former model was a crowd favourite in Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and frequently popped up in her family’s Instagram posts.


All you need to know about Mary Jo Campbell, the Kardashian-Jenner matriarch who sadly passed away

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Popularly known as MJ, the former model was a crowd favourite in Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and frequently popped up in her family’s Instagram posts

Popularly known as MJ, the former model was a crowd favourite in Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and frequently popped up in her family’s Instagram posts