Jan Ashley was an American former beauty queen. She was born Janice Lynn Glass in Amarillo, Texas, and grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She won the Miss Tulsa title in 1966 and later married Hollywood producer John Ashley. Most people know her as Robert Kardashian’s second wife. 

That marriage lasted about 30 days before it was annulled in 1998. She later made headlines in 2012 with a claim about Khloé Kardashian that the Kardashian family firmly denied. She died in Tulsa on October 1, 2015, at age 67.

Quick Bio/Wiki Jan Ashley

Detail	Information
Full name	Janice Lynn Glass Ashley
Known as	Jan Ashley
Date of birth	August 3, 1948
Birthplace	Amarillo, Potter County, Texas, USA
Parents	James Douglas Glass and Monnie M. Glass
Raised in	Tulsa, Oklahoma
Nationality	American
Pageant title	Miss Tulsa, 1966
Occupation	Executive secretary
First husband	John Ashley, actor and producer (married 1978, until his death in 1997)
Second husband	Robert Kardashian Sr., attorney and businessman (married November 25, 1998)
Children	None known
Date of death	October 1, 2015
Place of death	Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
Age at death	67
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, California
Net worth	Not publicly known

Jan Ashley Early Life and Family Background

Jan Ashley was born on August 3, 1948, in Amarillo, Texas. Her parents were James Douglas Glass and Monnie M. Glass. She was born Janice Lynn Glass, and she used the name Jan for most of her adult life.

Her family moved to Oklahoma while she was young, and she grew up in Tulsa. Very little is public about her childhood, her siblings, or her schooling. She kept a low profile, and that is part of why she stayed a footnote in celebrity history for so long.

That quiet start matters when you look at the rest of her story. She was not part of the entertainment world when she was young. She came to it through marriage, years later.

Jan Ashley and the Miss Tulsa 1966 Title

In 1966, Jan won the Miss Tulsa title while she was still in her late teens. Local pageants in that era carried real weight in a city like Tulsa. Winners appeared at civic events, posed for newspaper photos, and became familiar faces around town.

The title did not push her toward a modeling or acting career. There is no record of national pageant wins or screen work. Miss Tulsa was her one well-known honor, and it still shows up in almost every biography written about her.

It also explains her later search interest. People who find her through the Kardashian story often want to know where she came from, and the pageant is the clearest answer.

Jan Ashley Career and Working Life

Jan worked as an executive secretary. That is the one profession tied to her name with any confidence. Beyond that, her working life is thin on public detail.

She did not have a career in film, television, or music. Her connection to Hollywood came through her first husband, not through her own credits. No company, title, or employer from her later years has been publicly documented.

So if you came looking for a long professional résumé, there isn’t one. She was a private citizen who ended up in public view because of two marriages.

Jan Ashley and John Ashley: A 19-Year Marriage

Jan married John Ashley in 1978. The two had a link to Tulsa, since John was raised in Oklahoma and went to Oklahoma State University. After the wedding they settled in California, where his career was based.

John Ashley was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on December 25, 1934. He started as an actor in the late 1950s and appeared in teen films and beach party movies in the 1960s. He then moved into producing and made low-budget action and horror films in the Philippines. Later he worked in television, and he is best remembered as a producer on The A-Team. He also worked as an associate producer on Apocalypse Now.

He had two sons from earlier relationships. Jan had no biological children of her own. Their marriage lasted until John died, and by most accounts it was the steadiest chapter of her adult life.

The Death of John Ashley in 1997

John Ashley died of a heart attack on October 3, 1997, in New York City. He was 62. He was working as a producer on a film at the time, and he collapsed outside the studio where it was being made.

Jan was 49 when she became a widow. They had been married for about 19 years. She had built her adult life around that marriage and the Hollywood circle that came with it.

Nothing else about her grief is on record, and it would be wrong to guess. What is clear is that she was newly widowed when Robert Kardashian entered her life less than a year later.

How Jan Ashley Met Robert Kardashian

Jan met Robert Kardashian in early 1998. By her own telling, she was selling her house when he came through it and saw her picture. The two began talking and started dating soon after.

Robert was a well-known Los Angeles attorney and businessman. He had been a member of O.J. Simpson’s defense team during the 1995 murder trial. He was also a father of four: Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and Rob Jr. His marriage to Kris Jenner had ended in 1991.

They dated for roughly seven months. Robert proposed in Hawaii, and the couple kept the relationship fairly quiet. She said they hid it for a long time.

Jan Ashley 30-Day Marriage to Robert Kardashian

Jan Ashley married Robert Kardashian on November 25, 1998. She became his second wife. Within about a month, the marriage had fallen apart.

The ending was fast and public enough to become a piece of Kardashian family history. It is the reason she is sometimes called the 30-day wife. Robert later married Ellen Pierson in 2003, and he died of esophageal cancer that same year.

Jan never had a long public run as a Kardashian. She was part of the family story for about a month. Her name returned to the headlines only years later.

Why Jan Ashley Marriage Was Annulled

The marriage ended in an annulment, not a divorce. An annulment declares a marriage legally invalid from the start, as if it never took place. A divorce ends a marriage that was valid.

Jan has said the problem was not between her and Robert. She blamed the constant turmoil from his ex-wife Kris Jenner and his children. In her words, they were always after him for money, and the stress wore him down.

Robert told a different story in court papers. He said that before the wedding, he and Jan had agreed to have a child together. He said he changed his mind after the marriage began. Those filings are the only written explanation from his side.

Both accounts agree on one point. The marriage was short, and neither of them stayed in it. No one has ever put out a full, neutral account of exactly what happened.

Jan Ashley Among Robert Kardashian’s Three Marriages

Robert Kardashian was married three times. Jan sat in the middle, and her marriage was by far the shortest of the three.

Wife	Marriage	How it ended
Kris Jenner (then Kris Houghton)	1978 to 1991	Divorce
Jan Ashley	November 1998	Annulment after about 30 days
Ellen Pierson	2003	Ended by Robert’s death, about six weeks after the wedding

Kris Jenner is the best known of the three because of her role in the family’s reality TV career. Ellen Pierson became public later, after she gave interviews about Robert and the family. Jan fell between the two, and her story has always been told in their shadow.

Jan Ashley and the Khloé Kardashian Paternity Claim

In January 2012, Jan gave an interview to a national magazine alongside Ellen Pierson. Jan, then 63, said Robert told her after their wedding that Khloé was not his biological child. Ellen said Robert had also questioned whether Khloé was his.

The claim landed in a tense moment. Kris Jenner had admitted in her 2011 memoir that she had an affair during her marriage to Robert. Some people took Jan’s statement as proof. The family took it as an attack.

Khloé responded on Twitter and said the comments crossed a line. Kris Jenner called the rumors untrue and said she was there, meaning she knew the facts better than anyone. The family has never accepted the claim.

There is no DNA test, legal ruling, or document that supports it. Robert’s own court filings listed all four children as his. Jan said he did that to protect Khloé. Without proof, it stays an unverified claim, and Khloé is legally and publicly Robert’s daughter.

Jan Ashley Later Life and Death

After the 2012 interview, Jan went back to a quiet life in Oklahoma. She gave a few interviews over the years, including some in 2014 about her marriage. Then she mostly stayed away from the press.

Jan Ashley died on October 1, 2015, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She was 67. She was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills, beside John Ashley.

The cause of her death has not been made public. There is no confirmed information about illness or a final statement from her family. It is better to leave that blank than to guess.

Jan Ashley Timeline

Year	Event
1948	Born Janice Lynn Glass in Amarillo, Texas
1966	Wins the Miss Tulsa title
1978	Marries John Ashley and moves to California
1997	John Ashley dies on October 3
Early 1998	Meets Robert Kardashian
November 1998	Marries Robert Kardashian on November 25
Late 1998	Marriage ends in annulment after about 30 days
2012	Makes the Khloé Kardashian paternity claim
2015	Dies in Tulsa on October 1 at age 67

Jan Ashley Net Worth

No reliable figure exists for Jan Ashley’s net worth. She never held a public job that came with a known salary, and she left no business or brand behind. Any exact number you see online is a guess.

What can be said is limited. She was married to a working Hollywood producer for 19 years, and she lived a quiet life in Tulsa afterward. That points to a modest, private life, but it is not a measured fact.

Is Jan Ashley Related to Other People With Similar Names?

Jan Ashley is not related to the Kardashians by blood. She became Robert’s wife for about a month, and that is the full extent of the connection. She has no known link to any clothing brand or business with a similar name.

Her last name came from her first husband, John Ashley. Searches that mix up the two names are common. John was the actor and producer, and Jan was his wife.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was Jan Ashley?

Jan Ashley was a former Miss Tulsa, the widow of producer John Ashley, and Robert Kardashian’s second wife.

How long was Jan Ashley married to Robert Kardashian?

The marriage lasted about 30 days after their November 25, 1998 wedding, and it ended in an annulment.

Did Jan Ashley have children?

No, Jan Ashley had no known biological children from either marriage.

What did Jan Ashley say about Khloé Kardashian?

In 2012, she said Robert told her Khloé was not his biological child, a claim the Kardashian family denied, and no evidence has supported.

When did Jan Ashley die?

She died on October 1, 2015, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at age 67.

Conclusion

Jan Ashley lived most of her life outside the spotlight, and she stepped into it twice. She won Miss Tulsa in 1966, spent 19 years married to producer John Ashley, and then married Robert Kardashian, a union that ended in an annulment after about a month. 

Her 2012 claim about Khloé Kardashian kept her name in the news, but she never backed it with proof, and the family has always rejected it. What is solid about her is simple: where she came from, who she married, when she died, and where she rests. The rest, including her career details, her net worth, and the cause of her death, is not publicly known.