The Kardashian-Jenner family has been called “America’s Royal Family” while captivating fans across the nation. However, a new book called Kardashian Dynasty: The Controversial Rise of America’s Royal Family, written by Ian Halperin, claims that the family’s rise to fame has been anything but simple. In fact, the book makes some bold claims outlining the idea that Caitlyn Jenner, formerly known as Bruce, came out as transgender as a means to “avoid manslaughter charges” for the death of Kardashian neighbor Kim Howe after rear-ending her on the Pacific Coast Highway.

#KCA #VoteJKT48ID people: Caitlyn Jenner will not be charged in the February car wreck that left a woman dead pic.twitter.com/UdIB0xND7P — andira bintang (@andirabintang94) October 1, 2015

The Daily Mail reports that the Kardashians and Jenners are the subject of a controversial book by Ian Halperin who claims that not only did Caitlyn Jenner time her gender transition to “avoid manslaughter charges” but that former wife Kris Jenner tried to prevent Caitlyn from coming out as transgender and instead told the Olympian to “pray away” the idea transitioning to a woman. The book, which quotes anonymous friends of the Kardashians and Jenners, says that while Caitlyn had hinted at her true gender identity while living as Bruce, the whole gender transition was sped up due to the deadly accident in Malibu that left Jenner facing manslaughter charges.

“Before Bruce got into the accident, he gave the world hints about his true sexuality. After the accident, he went full steam ahead. I truly believe he was trying to misdirect the negative publicity he received after the car crash….it was clear he was worried about being charged.”

If the source is correct, this means that while Jenner was likely considering a transition before the accident, the timing of Caitlyn’s public statements regarding her gender identity was made to take media attention away from the accident and subsequent manslaughter charges. Ultimately, the manslaughter charges were dropped by Malibu police but Jenner settled with Kim Howe’s family outside of court for an undisclosed amount of money for causing the deadly accident while driving at “unsafe speeds” while following the Howe’s car too closely.

According to Page Six‘s overview of a portion of the controversial Kardashian-Jenner book, Kris Jenner spent years trying to persuade her husband from coming out as transgender and urged Jenner, then still known as Bruce, to “pray away” the desires. An NCAA coach and friend to the Jenners allegedly spoke with Halperin for the book and explained that Kris Jenner thought that her husband’s desires to be a woman could go away with prayer and support from the church.

“[Kris] had influenced him to suppress his desire to be a woman for all those years. She told him he should pray and that church could help heal him.”

While the Kardashians and Jenners are seen as “progressive” figures in the current media, the book claims that Kris Jenner has ties to a number of controversial church figures who were known for homophobic statements. Therefore, it seemed only natural that Kris would attempt to sway her husband from coming out as Caitlyn to the public.

” [The Kardashians] attended bible studies led by conservative singer Pat Boone, who was ‘a fierce critic of any number of liberal causes, from the pro-choice to the gay rights movements.’ Years later, Kris was a regular attendee at the Calvary Community Church in Westlake, California, a church ‘long associated with homophobic positions,’ including firing a member of their executive team in 2012 for coming out as gay, noting during the firing that ‘it would never be accepted by the congregation.'”

Caitlyn Jenner Reaches First Settlement in Car Wreck https://t.co/ACI5kPkUGt pic.twitter.com/SZBlPNvtks — Terez Owens (@TerezOwens) December 31, 2015

While Kris Jenner was long associated with churches in California, Halperin claims that though she may have been sincere in her attempts at spirituality, the church was used for publicity and to cover-up scandals associated with the family’s rising stardom.

“Although Kris was undeniably sincere about her religious beliefs, the church became a convenient prop whenever she or the family needed to burnish their image. After her divorce from Kris Humphries and the subsequent backlash, Kim started tweeting regularly about her church attendance.”

While it seems that Caitlyn Jenner was unable to “pray away” being transgender, the notion that she moved up her transition timing in a bid to avoid manslaughter charges is intriguing to many as it seems that Kardashian and Jenner fans have all but forgotten the deadly crash that killed Kim Howe as Caitlyn’s subsequent transition dominated the media headlines. What do you think about the allegations against the Jenners and Kardashians in the new Ian Halperin book?

[Image by Anthony Harvey and Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images]