Brody Jenner Is More Than Malibu Ken

The Prince of Malibu has saved his house from wildfires a few times now. Most recently, Brody Jenner recalls, he protected his beachy bungalow in Latigo Canyon from the Woolsey Fire, which ripped through almost 100,000 acres in 2018. “This whole thing burned,” the reality TV legend (slash DJ slash entrepreneur) says nonchalantly, gesturing to the wild chaparral and lush palms that surround the humble white home, nestled in the hills by the ocean. “I stayed here by myself, watering the house…” he says, trailing off. “I learned a lot from that fire.”

When we meet, it’s only been two weeks since the Palisades Fire — one of seven wildfires in the Los Angeles area that together made for the most destructive series of blazes in California’s history — broke out. By some stretch of miracle, the fire torched 6,837 structures in Malibu and Palisades but spared Jenner’s place — yet again. This time, though, it was all luck: Jenner was out of town, tracking the calamity from Maui, where he splits time with his professional surfer fiancée Tiarah “Tia” Blanco and their 18-month-old daughter, Honey Raye. As an avid surfer himself, Jenner was tracking the 80-miles-per-hour winds — “I’m a huge weather guy” — and can’t say he was surprised that his hometown went up in flames.

As we chat, Jenner, 41, melts into a cozy neutral lounge chair in his living room. His home is not opulent or overly curated; the decor is Cali coastal shot through with Chip and Jo vibes. Stuffies and plastic toys abound; tiny sandals sit on the kitchen counter; a horizontal hook-rack — on which the name JENNER is emblazoned — is overburdened with keys. Jenner has the skin of a SoCal-sun-kissed porcelain doll and is (satisfyingly) dressed in full early aughts regalia: tight jeans, a black hoodie, and Air Force 1s. He seems almost preternaturally unflappable, a quality that — mixed with his tall, dark, and handsome good looks; natural athleticism; and surfer-dude accent — makes him an enduring kind of cultural prom king of California, for better and worse.

For the past 20 years on reality TV, Jenner has embodied one Golden State stereotype after another, starting with rich ne’er-do-well on 2005’s The Princes of Malibu. Two years later, he was back, as the dreamy Hollywood playboy on The Hills — an arc that would come full circle on the show’s 2019 reboot, in which Jenner appears as a long-haired guy who dabbled in an open-relationship. (After he and Kaitlynn Carter called it quits in 2019, she promptly entered a whirlwind romance with Miley Cyrus.) And throughout the Kardashians’ 17-year reality reign, Jenner dropped in every once in a while as the complicated yet undeniably hot stepbrother intent on figuring out his fractured relationship with parent Caitlyn Jenner.

When the eternal chiller was approached with his latest reality TV project, though, he wasn’t initially down. On Fox’s Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, celebrity “recruits” compete for glory over a grueling 10-day simulation of elite military training. “I’m like, ‘I don’t want to do this,’” he says in his now permanently scratchy voice, the result of spending his formative years yelling in nightclubs on The Hills. “‘This sounds hectic.’” But after consulting with family and friends — and considering his admiration for those in the military, including two grandparents who served in World War II — Jenner thought… why not? “This would be a great experience for me,” he realized. “Just to see what it’s all about.”

“Kendall and Kylie are my sisters. We have the same last name, but we don't share a bank account.”

Despite his initial reluctance to join the third season of the social experiment — one where participants only get a break if they quit, get medically cut, or are disqualified by the “directing staff” — Jenner had a bit of a competitive edge. Growing up as a sporty, privileged Californian, he “dabbled in all the usuals,” excelling in board sports (surf, skate, snow) and anything involving the water. “I was gifted in athletics, and I’m very competitive. I don’t give up easily,” he says, mentioning that as someone who struggles with attention deficit disorder, physical activity calms his brain and allows him to focus. Still, he believes his athletic prowess was never unleashed to the fullest: “[Caitlyn] won the Olympics, so I clearly have some of that in me.” Had she been more present in his childhood, Jenner wonders, maybe she would have said, “‘Hey, wow, Brody’s really good at this’ or ‘Hey, don’t quit.’”

On Special Forces, Jenner can finally reconcile what might have been if he’d been pushed off a cliff instead of in front of the camera. He was a clear standout among the show’s 16 contestants — who, in addition to B-list celebrities, include former Olympians and professional athletes — and is one of just five who made it to the finale, which airs Wednesday night. That’s not because the show is scripted, he’d like me to know: “I’ve filmed a lot of TV shows,” he says, “but this was super legit.” He insists some of the courses are actually even harder and longer than they appear in the edit. Long familiar with the making of TV sausage, Jenner thought that on Special Forces there would probably be some sleight of hand — a practice popularized in large part by shows like The Hills, which fabricated entire storylines. But there are no secret candy breaks or redos on Special Forces. “It is one take,” he says, ostensibly still in disbelief. “There’s no ‘Hey, can we pause?’”

“People are still like, ‘Wait, you DJ?’ People only want to think of me as Brody from The Hills.”

On the show, the unrelenting physical activity emotionally sands down the celebrities — who include Stephen Baldwin, Cam Newton, Denise Richards, and more than one former Bachelorette, all typically at a point in their lives when they’re looking for their next act — for an eventual outpouring they’re too exhausted to fake or censor. Amid castmate breakdowns, Jenner’s talent to keep his cool and hide what he might really be feeling is almost unnerving to the viewer. It’s also the name of the game, both in succeeding on Special Forces and in the limelight more generally. Even the show’s cast of former military operatives can’t seem to crack him: “Have you figured out who you are?” one former Marine sergeant asks when they bring him into the interrogation-style room at the end of a long day of hauling 500 pounds of equipment over a rock wall. Jenner pauses, and for a beat looks nervous before collecting himself and replying confidently: “Not completely… I think I’m always learning; that’s one of the reasons why I’m here.”

In this moment, we — and likely the show’s producers — expect (or maybe just hope) Jenner will lose his sh*t over his relationship with Caitlyn, who was absent throughout his childhood, focusing instead on helping build the multi-billion Kardashianempire with Kris and her daughters. (Most of Jenner’s occasional appearance on the Kardashians’ shows read as hollow attempts to boost the image of Caitlyn.) Instead, when the going gets tough in the confessional booth, Jenner instead centers his relationship with his then 9-month-old daughter, adding that his own father just served as a model for what not to do.

“My life just revolves around my daughter,” he tells me. “I think you can work yourself to death. But now that I’ve had a daughter, I want to make more time to be there for her, especially at this time in her life.” Though Jenner spends the summer on the road for DJ gigs and his tequila seltzer brand, Mamitas, he spends all winter in Hawaii with family, filming videos of Blanco surfing and making music. “I work really hard for, you know, seven, eight months or whatever, and then take two months off where you have no distraction,” he says.

Jenner is the epitome of a certain kind of Californian — one who wears a shirt that says “You stay safe, I’ll stay free” but avoids directly addressing politics lest it harsh his mellow — and consequently, he’s sparked his shareof controversy over the years. Generally, Brody’s style is just to roll with it. But there’s one assumption that’s irked him for decades: the idea that he’s a trust-fund kid who doesn’t have to work. “It’s funny that people think that, because, first off, my dad [Caitlyn] never gave any child support. It wasn’t like we were getting any money from the Kardashians ever,” he says. “Kendall and Kylie are my sisters. We have the same last name, but we don’t share a bank account.” Jenner cracks a smile: “I don’t get to go on the pink jet, though I would love to.” (When reached for comment, a representative for Caitlyn Jenner told Bustle that Brody’s mother, Linda Thompson, waived child support and alimony at the time of divorce in exchange for an upfront payment of 100% of the marital assets, which amounted to millions of dollars.)

“I was constantly thinking in producer mode [on The Hills], so I understood what they wanted, what they needed.”

In truth, the rich-kid perception dates back further than the Kardashians’ cultural takeover, to ThePrinces of Malibu, a “reality” show hatched up by his friend Spencer Pratt. (The two are still close friends, and Jenner told me that he and Pratt, who recently lost his home in the Palisades Fire, spoke earlier in the day.) Twenty years ago, Pratt had the bright idea that perhaps he and his buddy Brody could mimic the success of Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie’s Simple Life. The 21-year-olds spent close to a year with a camera crew capturing them bum around Jenner’s stepdad David Foster’s Villa Casablanca estate, creating boys-will-be-boys drama and playing up the filthy-rich narrative. Princes’ supporting cast included Jenner’s doting mother, songwriter Linda Thompson, and a disgruntled Foster: the now-infamous music producer would casually have guests like Celine Dion over while the cameras rolled.

Part and parcel of this charmed life, Pratt just happened to be best friends with the son of the president of Fox, and the bros sold the show’s first and only season to the network for $3 million. But what happened next was hardly smooth sailing: The day after the show premiered, Thompson filed for divorce after catching Foster cheating, and the show was canceled after two episodes. According to Jenner, the perception that the show caused marital strife is why it was canned. (This would not be Foster’s only foray into reality TV; a few years later, he entered the Real Housewives Extended Universe as husband to Yolanda Hadid and stepparent to Bella and Gigi.)

A couple of years later, a former Princes producer was working on a new show, The Hills, and begged the bad-boy duo to join Lauren Conrad, Heidi Montag, Audrina Patridge, and the gang for the second season. The rub, according to the producer: They “had to make it organic.” So, in the name of “reality,” Jenner and Pratt would find out where the show was filming, use their connections to get a table next to Conrad and Montag, whom Pratt would later marry, and — boom — the rest is history. “I was constantly thinking in producer mode, so I understood what they wanted, what they needed,” Jenner says. If they desired a flirtation with the show’s star LC to push the season forward, for example, Brody was happy to deliver.

“I’ve filmed a lot of TV shows, but this was super legit.”

Jenner tells me that he regrets getting so swept up in The Hills’ momentum that he allowed his passions to take a back seat to the spotlight. After he dropped out of University of Colorado, Boulder, to pursue music, his band Face Humper scored a residency at the Viper Room in Hollywood. The exposure of the show, Jenner thought, would surely catapult his music career into the mainstream. But none of that wound up even making it on screen. “I look back, and I’m like, ‘Why didn’t I just continue doing my music and then just make that a part of the show?’ As opposed to just completely abandoning it.” He goes on: “People are still like, ‘Wait, you DJ?’ People only want to think of me as Brody from The Hills; they don’t ever want to think that I do anything else, so that can be frustrating sometimes,” he says. “There’s a lot of things that I can do.”

If nothing else, his time on Special Forces does prove that. This guy is more than just a pretty boy with bottle service, a board, and problematic social media posts. There’s also some skill, grit, and focus in the mix. And now, a family, too. Amid the increasing risk of fire devastation, I ask the prince if he’d ever consider leaving this part of the country. Jenner responds with a level of resolve that sounds more kingly than princelike. “I’m not afraid. Malibu is home,” he says, with that eerily calm affect. “You’re always going to rebuild. The fire is not going to push me out of it.”