Caitlyn Jenner says gender identity wasn't a 'big part' of Kris Jenner separation: 'There were so many other bigger issues'

Caitlyn Jenner has revealed that her gender identity wasn’t a “big part” of her and Kris Jenner’s decision to divorce after 23 years of marriage.

The former Keeping Up With The Kardashians star opened up about her gender identity journey and the couple’s eventual separation during an appearance on Rob Lowe’s podcast Literally! With Rob Lowe.

According to the former Olympian, who publicly came out as transgender in 2015, two years after the couple announced their separation, she had previously told Kris about struggling with her gender - but had expressed her commitment to their family.

“I mean, I told Kris my issues, but I never thought that at some point down the line, 25 years later, that I would ever transition," Caitlyn said. “"It wasn't a possibility. I was in this, I was going to be committed to the family, but these are my issues, this is what I deal with. She was okay. And so we just went on with life.”

During their marriage, Caitlyn said the couple’s 10 children were a distraction, “which my kids hate when I say that, but it's not them - a distraction from myself.”

“And they were wonderful,” she said, explaining that what followed were “great years”.

Caitlyn had four children: Brandon Jenner, Brody Jenner, Cassandra Marino and Burt Jenner, from previous marriages when she married Kris, who also had four children: Kourtney, Kim, Khloe and Rob, from her previous marriage to Robert Kardashian.

Together, the couple had daughters Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner.

The couple eventually went “in separate directions” after 23 years, with Jenner telling Lowe: “My identity, it was not a big part of us separating.”

“There were so many other bigger issues out there,” she said. “The only thing, I think, because of my frustration with myself, I might have been a little bit shorter with her near the end. But there was a lot of things going on."

According to Caitlyn, once she and Kris separated, they “didn't have any issues, it was calm”.

“‘You know it's not working, I know it's not working, you have this house, I'll go find another place.' And she even found the place,” the 70-year-old recalled. “She decorated the place. She did everything in Malibu. She said: 'I want you to feel comfortable.' And that was it."

Kris has previously said she didn’t know the extent of Caitlyn’s gender struggles during their marriage, explaining during an episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians that she “didn’t have the whole truth of what was going on” in Caitlyn’s life and that the couple’s children kept certain revelations secret.

“There were things that happened that they didn’t tell me, because they were told not to," Kris said. "I’m not resentful about it. It just makes me really sad. Because I'm a protective mom. I would do anything for my kids. And had I known some of the things they were experiencing... it just broke my heart, hearing some of that stuff."

During the interview, the Olympic gold-medallist also reflected on what it was like growing up knowing that she was not comfortable with her identity as a male.

“I was never comfortable with my identity, even as a very young kid," she said. "I was fascinated by my sister's clothes, never comfortable in my own shoes, fascinated with all that kind of stuff,” she recalled. “But, you keep your mouth shut, you know? I'm talking the 50s and 60s.

“[Transgender] wasn't even a word back then. So I found ways to just distract myself from those feelings.”