In the latest episode of Hulu’s The Kardashians, Kourtney Kardashian Barker continued to open up about her yearslong therapy journey.
For those who don’t know, Kourtney, now 44, began going to therapy back in 2017 — which was two years after she split for good from Scott Disick, whom she’d dated on and off for almost a decade.
During the time that they were together, Kourtney and Scott welcomed three kids: Mason, Penelope, and Reign. However, their relationship was repeatedly blighted by his alleged infidelity and alcohol abuse, with Kourt giving him chance after chance to change his ways, though ultimately to no avail.
Since she began going to therapy, Kourtney has been open about how she’s managed to notice — and break free from — her family’s toxic dynamics and behavioral patterns. But most of Kourt’s family members — namely, mom Kris Jenner and sisters Kim and Khloé Kardashian — have made it known over the years that they’re not quite as keen to seek therapy when it comes to working on themselves.
Kim, for example, revealed last year that she views her “group of friends” — with whom she discusses “everything” — as her form of therapy, as opposed to an actual specialist. Meanwhile, Khloé, who has talked about using the gym as therapy, has been called out by Kendall Jenner for seemingly pushing her problems “to the side” and not “processing” anything in a bid to appear “strong.”
Nonetheless, Kourtney has continued to try to explain the importance of therapy to her family members numerous times over the years — including in this week’s episode of The Kardashians, which was the season finale.
Things begin with Kourtney, Khloé, and Kris taking a trip to San Diego to see Kourt’s husband, Travis Barker, perform with his band, Blink-182.
After noticing on the journey over how “controlling” Kris is being, Kourtney says in a confessional, “My mom is a massive control freak, and I think that we all get a bit of controlling nature from her. … When I’m around her and I’m around Khloé, it makes me never wanna be that way.”
While sitting down later with Kris, Kourtney and Khloé bring up her so-called controlling nature, saying that Kris had complained on the drive over after she thought they’d missed their exit on the freeway. This apparently came after Kris had agreed not to complain for the entirety of the trip, prompting Kourtney to question why felt the need to do so.
“Can I tell you something about you? What about you makes you have this need to be so controlling?” she asks. “Are you ever curious about yourself?”
Kris simply laughs this off, quipping, “I was curious about where we were. That’s what I was curious about.”
Khloé then chimes in to suggest that because of Kris's age, she’s not going to be open to change. “She’s 67. You think she’s — I’m not changing at 38 like that,” she says before later telling Kourt that she should “just accept everyone.”
Kourtney agrees that Kris may not be easily convinced to change or reflect on herself. However, she continues trying to explore the possible reasons for Kris’s behavior.
“You weren’t like that when you were in your 20s. But also, you had a husband who led the way. And now you lead the way,” Kourt tells Kris, who agrees.
Kourt goes on, saying, “You can be back in your feminine energy if you ever desire,” before later explaining that this means “not overthinking, not overdoing,” and focusing on “self-care.” This refers to the spiritual concept of the divine feminine, which suggests that there’s a direct counterpart to the structure of the masculine.
Kris acknowledges that this may be the case, telling Kourt that whenever she’s with her partner, Corey Gamble, she’s in “heaven.” And so, Kourtney goes on to question whether Kris is actually in therapy to delve into these subjects further.
“Do you do therapy or no?” Kourtney asks — only to have Kris immediately change the subject.
Ignoring the question completely, Kris decides it’s the right time to draw attention to a “cute” dimple on Kourtney’s chin.
“Do you have a cute little dimple in your chin right there?” she says with a smile, to which Kourt replies, “I think I do, and I honestly don’t know why it came.”
Khloé goes on to address the awkward topic change in a confessional. “God bless Kourtney, ’cause she’s definitely trying to have this therapy talk. And God bless my mom, ’cause she’s definitely not,” she says.
And Khloé is completely right. Kris then manages to brush over every topic under the sun aside from therapy — from pointing out how cute one of the egg holders in the fridge is to questioning where in the house their glam squad are going to get set up.
Kourt later tries addressing the subject of therapy once again, this time through the lens of generational trauma, which is essentially when the experiences of parents affect their children, grandchildren, and future generations socially, mentally, and emotionally.
However, while Kourtney is in the middle of speaking about the sensitive subject, Kris cuts her off and diverts the topic yet again.
Grabbing the face of a pretty horrified-looking Kourtney, Kris laughs and says, “Let me see something... Do you think this little eyebrow is higher than that one?”
In a confessional, Kourtney notes that she’s able to see right through Kris’s not-so-subtle attempts to change the subject whenever therapy is brought up.
“My mom tries to change the subject or not really face these types of topics,” she says, later telling Kris that “therapy is not for everyone.”
However, Kourtney later says that while Kris may not be all ears in the moment, she does actually appear to take some of Kourt’s comments into consideration.
“But it really does sink in. She sends me a video afterwards saying there’s always that one daughter in the family who does things her way and who heals all the family’s generational trauma,” Kourtney says with a smile.
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