Brody Jenner says Caitlyn Jenner has apologized for “not being there” when Brody was growing up.

“Just recently, I got a real, sincere apology,” Brody, 41, said of Caitlyn, 75, in the Wednesday, January 15 episode of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test. “It was the first time in my life that I’ve ever gotten an apology. You know, ‘I’m sorry for not being there,’ and honestly, it meant a lot.”

It is no secret that Brody and Caitlyn share a complicated history. Long before becoming a star of The Hills or a contestant on Special Forces, Brody spent his formative years with a famous father who wasn’t always around. Caitlyn, formerly Bruce, transitioned in 2015, and since then their relationship is “better,” Brody said on the Fox reality show.

When he was young, however, “I’d randomly see him — ‘him’ at the time — you know, here and there,” he remembered. “But, mom would tell me that I would write on cards, ‘Why doesn’t dad call me on my birthday?’”

Keeping up with Brody Jenner and Caitlyn Jenner’s complicated relationship may be easier said than done. Long before becoming a star of The Hills or a contestant on Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, Brody grew up with a famous father who wasn’t always present. “The big formative years for them, I was really struggling with […]

Caitlyn, who is a former Olympic decathlete and motivational speaker, has six children with three different wives: Burt Jenner and Cassandra Marino with Chrystie Scott, Brandon Jenner and Brody with Linda Thompson and Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner with Kris Jenner.

“I had an incredible mother,” Brody said in Special Forces. “Father, Bruce, at the time, wasn’t around that much. They split, and then he met a woman. She had kids as well. The woman that he met … they had kids together.” 

Caitlyn appeared on Keeping Up With the Kardashians (2007-2021) with ex-wife Kris and their daughters Kylie and Kendall, in addition to Kim, Kourtney, Khloé and Rob Kardashian — Kris’ children from her previous marriage to the late Robert Kardashian.

Brody admitted that the Kardashians’ show had made him feel “a little bit abandoned,” but with hindsight, he now understands that Caitlyn was “going through [her] own struggles, transitioning, and it was all that was put on TV, and there were these moments that we would have that was all filmed, and it just felt very invasive and not very genuine, I would say.”

Brody Jenner and Brandon Jenner aren’t always keeping up with the Kardashians. Kourtney Kardashian, Kim Kardashian, Khloé Kardashian and Rob Kardashian gained four stepsiblings — Burt Jenner, Casey Jenner, Brandon and Brody — when Caitlyn Jenner married Kris Jenner in 1991. (The former Olympian, who transitioned in 2015, shares her two eldest children with ex-wife […]

When Brody “found out that Caitlyn, or Bruce, wanted to be Caitlyn, it was sort of a relief,” he shared. “I think that there were a lot of things that started to make sense, you know, just in my life, about my father, and maybe why he wasn’t there all those years.” 

Brody has gained new perspective since welcoming daughter Honey with Tia Blanco in 2023.

“I think not having Bruce around growing up and her doing that transition, it was tough just being her son,” he said in Special Forces. “I just had a beautiful little daughter. I’m not living for myself anymore. I’m living for her. … I think it’s gonna make me a better father.”

He added: “I’m gonna do the exact opposite of, as far as being there for her, as my father did for me.”