Karen Houghton is Kris Jenner’s sister. She was born on Nov.24, 1958, in San Diego and is three years younger than her. Their parents are Mary Jo Shannon and Robert Houghton. When Kris was seven and Karen was four their parents divorced and they were raised by their mother. They grew up in University City, a suburb of San Diego.
For some years, she helped run her mother’s business, Shannon & Co., an exclusive baby boutique in La Jolla, California. Mary Jo still owns and runs the place. Karen was once married to Mark Zettel. She had a daughter, Natalie who is now fifteen. The marriage ended in 2002, and in 2009 she had to ask for an order of protection against him. Due to drug use and bipolar meds, his behavior had been abusive to her and their daughter, she alleged. Two years later, she was requesting another restraining order against former boyfriend Steven Edward Thornton who has a rap sheet with 12 arrests in California and Alabama. Needless to say, Kris is not to pleased with Karen’s choices of men.
But Karen is close to her sister and to her sister’s kids, you know, Kourtney, Kim, Khloe, Rob, Kendall and Kylie- you might have heard of them. She recently attended a baby shower given for Kim in Beverley Hills. Paparazzi seemed to really be after her, asking all sorts of questions about Kim, Kanye and the baby. Some say that her answers made it seem like she’d had too much to drink, really crazy, but it is reported that friends of hers say she’s not a big drinker. She might have been trying to fool the avid reporters because all the information was mostly inaccurate. But all agreed that her bubbly personality was great.
