Jordyn Woods & the Kardashians Incident One Year Later (and What It Says About How Society Sees Cheating)

Thanks to the internet, it has become difficult for celebrities to move on from their scandals even after a year. The best example for this is YouTube’s beauty vlogger community and what happened during a 2019 event known as “Dramageddon 2” (not to be confused with the unrelated 2018 Dramageddon—confusing, I know). Long story short, during the anniversary of Dramageddon 2 brought back old memories that went on to spark Dramageddon 3.

So, while Twitter was blowing up on the recent events, it got me thinking about the other scandals last year and how it’ll probably be resurrected on the eve it blew up. And I remembered that whole Jordyn Woods x Kardashian-Jenner Family scandal. I did some digging and saw how some people are still talking about it to this day. And after looking at everything that was written about it, I think it says a lot about what society thinks about women and cheating.

Let’s Recap

So, for those who weren’t invested in the Jordyn Woods x Kardashian scandal, here’s a quick recap. You have to understand that when this story blew up, it was pretty big considering how far back the timeline goes.

If we’re being thorough, this whole scandal began brewing as early as 2012, when Kylie Jenner and Jordyn Woods became BFFs. Over the next seven years, Jordyn would find herself becoming practically family in the Kardashian-Jenner household. Jordyn was modeling for Kylie Cosmetics (and would even become the namesake of one of her lip liners) as well as Khloe Kardashian’s brand Good American. Jordyn went on to move into Kylie’s $13.45 million mansion.

So, you could tell that Kylie and Jordyn Woods were practically attached at the hip. And you could also tell that Jordyn was considered, to the Kardashian-Jenner clan, an unofficial member of the family herself.

While that was going on, Kylie’s older half-sister Khloe Kardashian went on to date NBA player Tristan Thompson as early as August 2016. Rumors circulated that Thompson left his pregnant ex-girlfriend Jordan Craig for Khloe (oh, the irony), but this has never been confirmed.

In 2017, Khloe admitted that while she was not in a rush to get married, she wanted to be a mom and felt like Tristan would make “an impeccable father.” Later in September, rumors spread that she was pregnant, but she did not confirm this until December. Her pregnancy became popularly known as the Triple Kardashian pregnancy, as Kim was also expecting while Kylie had gone off social media and was in hiding leading to rumors about her pregnancy.

A few weeks after Khloe’s pregnancy was announced, Thompson was recorded kissing two women in a lounge outside Washington, DC. TMZ obtained the footage in October 2017, but they didn’t release it until April 2018 – just days before Khloe was about to give birth. Aside from that footage, the Daily Mail also leaked a video of Thompson kissing another woman in New York and then later photographed entering a hotel with the same woman.

Despite this, Khloe said she did not want to keep her newborn daughter, True Thompson, away from her father. A month after giving birth, she admitted that they were working on fixing their relationship for their daughter.

But in February 2019, TMZ reported that Tristan spent the night with Jordyn Woods during a party in his home. Khloe seemed to confirm this through cryptic Tweets and posts on her Instagram Stories. Until Jordyn Woods appeared on Red Table Talk and claimed it was only a quick kiss, and Khloe took to Twitter.

Following the fallout, everyone in the Kardashian-Jenner clan proceeded to distance themselves from Jordyn – including Kylie. Kylie Cosmetics put their “Jordyn” lip liner on sale, while Good American removed Jordyn from their website. Jordyn moved out of Kylie’s mansion and back with her parents and kept a low profile for a few weeks.

Tristan and Khloe, on the other hand, remained civil for the sake of their daughter.

What Social Media’s Reaction Says About Cheating and Women

First of all, this isn’t a piece that defends cheating or puts the blame on one person alone – cheating is never OK, regardless of the reasons. But what is problematic is how social media responded to the scandal and what the opinions were. I was online when this whole thing blew up, and to summarize all the popular opinions online:

• Jordyn threw away her lucrative connections to the influential Kardashian-Jenner clan for one night of fun.
• Jordyn was a homewrecker.
• Khloe deserved to be cheated on because she tried to fix her relationship with a man who cheated in the past.
• Khloe deserved to be cheated on because she was the Other Woman that made Tristan allegedly break up with his pregnant girlfriend.

Millions of people took to social media to bash Jordyn or Khloe, yet very little was said about Tristan in the process. Why is it that when a man cheats on his partner with another woman, everyone pits the women against each other, but no one ever talks about the man who made the choice to cheat in the first place?

Let’s break down each one of these opinions. First of all, just because Jordyn committed a mistake that affected her relationship with the whole KarJen clan, it was a personal connection before it became a business one. Her whole life does not revolve around the Kardashian family, so I doubt she had a Kardashian-Jenner checklist in mind each time she did something in her life.

Second, it was later revealed that Tristan was the one who initiated their kiss. Again, why are we pinning the blame solely on the other woman when it took two to tango in the first place?

Third, people who blame Khloe for staying with Tristan either don’t have divorced parents, have never been divorced, or co-parented with their ex. Had Tristan cheated on her and Khloe wasn’t a mother, I’m guessing she could have easily walked away from a bad situation (just like she did with her first marriage). But this whole scandal isn’t limited to just Jordyn and Tristan and Khloe – it also affects Tristan and Khloe’s daughter.

Khloe could have chosen what was easier for her and keep Tristan out of her life. Unfortunately, he is the father of her child. And while based on his history he’s clearly a terrible partner, Khloe knows two things that outweigh what she wants: that Tristan still wants to be in their daughter’s life, and that she can’t deny her daughter the right to have a father figure growing up. It’s not an ideal situation, but Khloe is doing the grown-up thing and putting her daughter’s needs before what she wants, no matter how uncomfortable it makes her. 

And finally, nobody deserves to be cheated on, regardless of the reason.

This isn’t a Disney Princess movie where things are either black or white. Khloe claims Tristan didn’t leave his ex for her, nor did she know that they were together when she and Tristan started dating. While this isn’t a defense for Khloe, the truth and the lines (plus the fact that children are involved) make it difficult for everybody.

What Does That Mean Now?

Personally, it shouldn’t mean anything to the everyday person unless you’re that obsessed with the Kardashians. The Kardashians in all their wealth and fame moved on, and Tristan and Jordyn and anyone else involved did the same. Tristan and Khloe continue to co-parent, though it’s clear that they are no longer dating.

Kylie and Jordyn appear to be no longer on speaking terms. People continue to talk about this on social media as everything Jordyn does is now apparently a dig at how she destroyed Khloe’s life (as if Jordyn’s new sole purpose in life is to torment Khloe). But life will continue for you as this likely has no effect on your life whatsoever.

But the way this scandal was handled and feasted upon by social media users says a lot about how we put the blame on women for cheating scandals and how quick we are to pit women against each other and let the man in question walk away scot-free.

Tristan was never kicked off his NBA team because of this scandal, and I don’t think he’s ever been mentioned since. Meanwhile, Khloe was constantly criticized for her parenting and her decision to stay in touch with her daughter’s father. My guess is that if she did cut Tristan out, she’d be criticized for denying Tristan the right to see their daughter. So, damned if she did; damned if she didn’t.

Jordyn, however, arguably got the worst of it. Her family received death threats, which prevented her parents from going outside or her younger sister from going to school. Almost a year after the scandal, Jordyn had to continue clearing her name – even going as far as taking a lie detector test to prove her claims.

My verdict? No one is guilty, but all the blame (and the hate that came with it) went to the women involved. And that says a lot about how we as a society pin the fault on women and ignore the fact that the man involved was also worthy of blame.