Kris Jenner has said the decision to end the family’s long-running reality TV show was “sudden”.

It was announced earlier this month that Keeping Up With The Kardashians will air its 20th and final season next year, after 14 years on air.

The show has faced heavy criticism throughout its run but became a cultural phenomenon and made worldwide stars of the family, including cosmetics entrepreneur Kim Kardashian West.

Kris Jenner made a virtual appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show to discuss the end of the family’s reality TV show (Michael Rozman/Warner Bros/PA)

Family matriarch Jenner opened up on the decision to call it a day during a virtual appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

“It was kind of sudden,” she told the host. “I think we were talking about signing up for another couple of years with our network and suddenly just came to the decision as a group that the whole family felt it was time.

“It just sort of came to us and we thought, 20 seasons, 14 years, hundreds of episodes and lots of spin-offs.”

When Keeping Up With The Kardashians first aired in 2007, Jenner, 64, was best-known for whom she had married.

Her ex-husband was OJ Simpson lawyer Robert Kardashian while at the time she was married to the Olympian Caitlyn Jenner.

Reflecting on how times had changed in the intervening years, Jenner said: “It’s so weird to think when we started the show, there was barely Twitter. There were no other social media platforms – there was no Instagram, there was no Snapchat. There were no grandchildren. People weren’t married or divorced.

“It’s just so crazy that all of this has happened and to look back and think that I have the most amazing home movies in the world.”

Shortly after the Keeping Up With The Kardashians news was announced, Jenner was linked with appearing on another reality TV show – Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills.

However, she appeared to pour cold water on the idea, saying “there’s just too much going on in my life”.

Jenner added: “And they do not need a Kris Jenner on that show. They are doing just fine.”