Rajpipla's gay prince is keeping up with the Kardashians and well

Wendy Wheaton, Gohil's manager; Manvendra Singh Gohil and Kris Jenner at the latter's residence. Pic/Tommy Phillips

Early this year, when Manvendra Singh Gohil received an invitation to dine with the Kardashians in Los Angeles, he knew he would have to brush up on his knowledge on America's most popular family. "Honestly, I didn't know much about them, because I had never watched their reality show. I had to memorise who's who," he laughs. From being a stranger to their antics, Gohil found himself catapulted into their inner circle after he met Jeff Jenkins, the producer of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, at a fundraiser in Los Angeles last June. "It was an event organised by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, where I was introduced to Jeff, who is also gay. While chatting, he floated the idea of my appearing on the show, because he felt I could help Kris Jenner who was still coping with the aftermath of her ex-husband publicly announcing that he was a transgender [and subsequently undergoing a sex-change operation]. For me, it was a chance to talk about LGBT rights on a platform that's mostly avidly watched by the youth," he says.

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The royal rite of passage
Gohil, a descendant of the 650-year-old royal family of Rajpipla came out as the country's first gay prince back in 2006. Since then he has shared screen space with Oprah Winfrey, set up an LGBT trust and become a strong voice for the homosexual community in the country. Currently, he's working towards securing rights of Sidis, an African tribe that came to India 400 years ago as slaves. "My job is to make the marginalised voice heard," he says.

It's this strain of thought that helped Gohil get a ticket to Keeping Up With The Kardashians. "It took a year for the producers to get me on the show, and in the meanwhile they kept track of all I did for gay rights. They felt I was the right person to speak to the family because Bruce and I had similar experiences," he says. What hastened the process of Gohil's meeting with Kendall when she visited Jaipur for a shoot. "After we spoke, she was eager I meet the rest of her family," he says.

Kris and her husband Bruce Jenner filed for divorce in 2013. Two years later, Bruce came out as a trans-woman and changed his identity to Caitlyn Jenner, a decision that left his family in disarray. Similarly, Gohil who was married to a princess from a royal family in Madhya Pradesh, divorced his wife when he came out as gay.

"Kris wanted closure. I knew how she felt because that's probably how my ex-wife felt too. The only difference was their marriage lasted for 23 years, while ours ended after 16 months. It was far more difficult for Kris," he says. When he was offered the show, the initial idea was to only meet the girls at their luxurious Beverly Hills home for lunch. "We sat on the lawn by the pool, ate pasta and discussed human rights in India. They were surprised to know about the transgender rights in our country, because in America, trans-sexual rights is still a rather unexplored issue," says Gohil, who spoke to them about the Indian hijra community.

It was after this, that Kim, Kendall and Khloe insisted that he meet their mother, Kris. He recalls being fascinated on stepping into her home. "The decor was in stark black and white, and the flooring was made of glass. It was cracked in certain places, and I was scared I might end up hurting my foot," he laughs. Gohil admits he bonded the most with Kris, "Probably because we're from the same generation. I also realised she had nobody to pour her heart out to. I told her to put herself in Bruce's shoes. At one point, her eyes welled up," he recalls. It's been over two months since the4 meeting, but the family has promised to visit India and help Gohil in his efforts to spread awareness over LGBT rights.

The family, he says, is not dysfunctional as portrayed. "They were warm, genuine people. I certainly wasn't overwhelmed, may be because I went with no preconceived notion. I guess when you become so popular, you also invite controversy."