Kylie Jenner welcomes Stormi
On Feb. 4 Kylie Jenner released a video documenting her pregnancy of the past nine months.
The rumors have finally been confirmed — Kylie Jenner is officially a mom. For the past several months the conversation surrounding Kylie Jenner’s supposed pregnancy has dominated tabloid headlines and gossip sites. Nobody has been able to say for certain whether the rumors are true — until recently. After months of playing the guessing game many people, including University of San Diego Toreros, have had their questions answered.
In mid-September, news broke that Jenner could be expecting a baby with her new boyfriend, rapper Travis Scott. As the topic gained more traction, no comments were heard from Jenner or the rest of the ‘KarJenner clan.’ She has been relatively inactive on social media, which is very uncharacteristic for the Snapchat queen. She resumed her activity on social media on Feb. 4, posting a mini-film documenting her pregnancy.
After months of rumors being neither confirmed nor denied, junior Victoria Zielinski started to doubt whether Jenner was truly pregnant.
“I was very shocked when I first heard about Kylie’s birth,” Zielinski said. “It has gone on for so long that I wasn’t really sure what to believe any more. I am surprised that her friends and family were able to keep it under wraps for so long.”
As an avid fan of everything Kardashian, Zielinski has followed along with the news and even crafted her own theory for all the secrecy.
“The whole thing has snowballed into a giant, complicated publicity stunt,” Zielinski said. “The Kardashian family is purposely keeping it a secret and milking it for the publicity. The Kardashians are famous for being famous and this is a perfect example of them cleverly using the media to their advantage.”
Although Jenner has remained fairly inactive on her social media platforms since the headlines started to break, her followers have increased a significant amount on Instagram, making her one of the top-followed public figures.
“That’s because people are waiting to hear the baby news,” Zielinski said. “People are hyped for it and it’s making her much more popular in the process.”
Jenner has grown up in the public eye with cameras and social media documenting her life. To some, her recent radio silence may seem strange because it is uncharacteristic of the new mother.
“I understand her decisions to keep it private,” Zielinski said. “We don’t know what it’s like to be famous and have people following and obsessing over our every move. The pressure is most likely intense and being a young mom Kylie probably didn’t want any drama in addition to being pregnant. I think people were more surprised than anything because she’s normally so active on social media.”
The youngest Jenner’s pregnancy broke the precedent for all other Kardashian pregnancies. In the past, all of Jenner’s older sisters (Kourtney, Kim, and Khloe)have used their hit reality show as a platform to announce their big news. Some may wonder why she decided to deviate from the norm.
Senior Marissa Millender has her own beliefs as to why the public has not seen or heard much from Jenner.
“This may be part of her plan in the first place,” Millender said. “Maybe she isn’t following the pattern like her sisters because she is so young and maybe she wants to keep her family life private and have her followers be informed only about her business-related things like her makeup line.”
Millender empathized with Jenner on why she decided not to share the news with all her fans.
“If I were a highly scrutinized young celebrity who just became pregnant I would want to stay out of the limelight too,” Millender said. “Maybe she didn’t plan on having a baby so young, so maybe she is coping with the fact that she is pregnant herself.”
Junior Tia Phillipart agreed with Zielinski and Millender that the refusal to acknowledge the pregnancy is nothing more than a publicity scheme.
This past summer, Kylie Jenner debuted her own reality show, “The Life of Kylie,” which focused solely on her. Unlike the other spin-off shows that have come from the Kardashian franchise, Jenner’s show didn’t receive as high of ratings.
“I believe she is using her pregnancy as a marketing ploy and going to save her announcement for the show,” Phillipart said. “They may have been losing viewers on the show so this is a way to gain viewers back.”
Phillipart mentioned the amount of attention the whole scandal has received.
“It has been months since the first headline has broke and people are still talking, if not even more so,” Phillipart said. “What’s crazy is that people are now saying Kylie was actually Kim’s surrogate or think Kylie has already given birth. I think it’s time for one of the family members to speak up.”
Unlike the aforementioned students, junior Alexa Perera can’t comprehend the amount of time that has been spent on the gossip.
“I don’t understand why a Jenner pregnancy is the main issue in the news right now,” Perera said. “Coming back from study abroad and seeing different worldly issues in 10 countries, I especially don’t care about the pregnancy because there are more important issues to be knowledgeable about.”
Junior Reid Arno offered his perspective on Jenner’s pregnancy.
“To be honest I was unaware of any news concerning Kylie Jenner’s pregnancy until now,” Arno said. “It’s not exactly a field of interest for a 20-year-old male. But, if there’s enough news to warrant an interview, it must be a pretty big deal.”
After months of speculation and no word from the ‘KarJenner clan’, the world finally knows the truth about Jenner’s pregnancy. For some Toreros this news is earth-shattering, but for others it’s just another headline. It is hard to say whether Jenner will revert back to her old social media habits or if the mom lifestyle will change her ways.