If you searched for “Chrystie Cronwover” and ended up here, you are not alone. That spelling is one of the most common misspellings tied to this name. The person most people are actually looking for is Chrystie Crownover — Caitlyn Jenner’s first wife and the mother of Jenner’s two oldest children.
This article covers who Chrystie Crownover is, how she and Caitlyn Jenner met, their children, what she knew about Jenner’s gender identity, why the marriage ended, and her place in the broader Jenner family story.
The Name Confusion — “Cronwover” vs. “Crownover”
The correct surname, as used in major entertainment coverage including The Mirror and Us Weekly, is Crownover — not “Cronwover.” The misspelling is easy to make and shows up often in online searches, but it refers to the same person.
It is also worth knowing that some coverage identifies her as Chrystie Scott. That is the name she has used after remarrying. So if you see “Chrystie Scott” in an article about Caitlyn Jenner’s first marriage, that is the same woman.
Knowing both names helps if you are cross-referencing different articles or trying to track down the same story from multiple sources.
How Chrystie Crownover and Caitlyn Jenner Met?
Crownover and Caitlyn Jenner met while both were students at Graceland College in Iowa. The two got married in December 1972.
Their marriage covered a significant stretch of Jenner’s early athletic life. Jenner was training intensively during this period, and the marriage was still going when Jenner won the gold medal in the decathlon at the 1976 Montreal Olympics — one of the most celebrated athletic achievements in American sports history at the time.
Coverage from The Mirror places Crownover as part of Jenner’s personal life through this entire chapter. It would be overstating things to assign her a specific defined role in Jenner’s athletic success, but she was clearly present during one of the most important periods of Jenner’s early life.
Their Two Children and Where They Fit in the Jenner Family
Crownover and Caitlyn Jenner had two children together:
- Burt Jenner, born in 1978
- Cassandra Jenner, known as Casey (now Cassandra Marino), born in 1980
These two are Caitlyn Jenner’s oldest children. After the marriage to Crownover ended, Caitlyn went on to have two more children — Brandon and Brody Jenner — with Linda Thompson. Later, Caitlyn’s marriage to Kris Jenner brought Kendall and Kylie Jenner into the family.
It is worth being clear here: Chrystie Crownover is not the mother of Kendall or Kylie Jenner. Their mother is Kris Jenner. Crownover’s connection to the wider Kardashian-Jenner world comes through her children, Burt and Casey, who are connected to that extended blended family through their father.
Here is a simple timeline to show how the family came together:
- 1972 — Crownover and Jenner marry
- 1976 — Jenner wins Olympic decathlon gold in Montreal
- 1978 — Burt Jenner is born
- 1980 — Cassandra “Casey” is born
- January 1981 — The couple divorces
- 2015 — Jenner publicly comes out as transgender; Crownover speaks publicly about her experience
What Crownover Knew About Jenner’s Gender Identity?
This is the part of Crownover’s story that got the most public attention in 2015, when Caitlyn Jenner gave the now-famous interview with Diane Sawyer.
In that interview, Jenner said that Crownover was the first person she ever told about her internal struggle with gender identity. That disclosure happened early in their marriage — decades before Jenner came out publicly.
Crownover later confirmed this publicly. She said Jenner had shared this with her, and that she kept it private for a very long time. According to reporting from WebProNews, Crownover described Jenner’s struggle as something that “didn’t threaten” her personally at the time.
That is a notable thing to say, and it gives some context for how she processed the information over the years. She was not angry or bitter in her public comments. She spoke calmly about something she had carried privately for a long time.
Why the Marriage Ended?
The divorce was finalized in January 1981, after roughly eight or nine years of marriage depending on how you count the timeline.
It would be inaccurate to say the marriage ended simply because Jenner was transgender. That is not what Crownover has said publicly. According to reporting from WebProNews, Crownover described the breakdown of the marriage as coming from broader marital dissatisfaction — not one single cause.
That distinction matters. It is easy for media coverage to collapse a complicated situation into a simple headline, and in this case the simpler version would not be accurate. Crownover’s own account points to a more complex set of circumstances.
Her Brief Entertainment Credits
Crownover does have a small number of screen credits on public record. She appeared in the 1977 television film SST: Death Flight, and there are references to appearances in documentary or sports-related productions.
These are a minor part of her public record. She was not a working actress in any significant or ongoing sense. Her name appears in entertainment history mainly because of her marriage to Caitlyn Jenner, not because of an independent entertainment career.
Her Place in the Broader Jenner Story
Chrystie Crownover sits at the beginning of Caitlyn Jenner’s personal history as a public figure. She was there during the Olympic years. She was the first person Jenner trusted with a very private truth. She raised two children who are now adults connected — through their father — to one of the most famous family networks in the world.
And yet she has largely stayed out of the spotlight. She does not appear to maintain a major public platform, and she rarely gives interviews. Her 2015 comments came in the context of a genuinely significant public moment, not as part of a broader media presence.
For readers interested in learning more about the people behind well-known celebrity stories, Upward Business Daily covers a range of profiles and background stories in a straightforward, factual way.
Burt Jenner has spoken publicly about his mother over the years, and the HOLA profile of Caitlyn’s less-famous children references Crownover’s role as the first spouse. Beyond that, most of what is on record comes from the 2015 wave of coverage around Jenner’s transition.
A Few Things Worth Clarifying
Because so many pages about Crownover repeat similar information, it is worth noting what the confirmed facts actually are — and what they are not.
- Her surname is Crownover, not “Cronwover.”
- She is also known as Chrystie Scott after remarrying.
- She is the mother of Burt Jenner and Cassandra Marino — not Kendall or Kylie.
- The marriage ended because of general marital breakdown, not one stated reason alone.
- She does not have a significant independent acting career.
- Her current personal life, occupation, and private details are not well documented in public sources, and this article does not invent them.
Final Thoughts
Chrystie Crownover is a real person with a documented place in a well-known family history. She was Caitlyn Jenner’s first wife. She was the first person Jenner confided in about gender identity. She raised two children who are the oldest in Jenner’s family. And she has mostly stayed private since the marriage ended more than four decades ago.
Her story is worth telling accurately — without inflating her profile or reducing her to a footnote. She is simply one of the people who was part of an important chapter in Caitlyn Jenner’s life, long before that life became as public as it is today.
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