Kim

by Sean Smith

  Kim and Kanye officially went public with their love affair in late April 2012, when they arrived hand in hand and posed for pictures at the annual artists’ dinner at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. She had already been spotted leaving his apartment one morning in the same clothes she had on the night before.

  Privately, they were already talking of moving in together and starting a family. Two things needed to happen to make that possible. First, they needed to decide whose lovely house they were going to live in. Secondly, Kim needed to come off the pill, which she had been taking for 18 years. She told Oprah, ‘I want babies; I want my forever; I want my fairy tale. And I believe you can have what you want.’

  The solution to the living arrangements was simple: they would both sell their homes and start afresh with something fabulous. Kim was happy to let hers go for $5 million – no more than she had paid for it, when taking into account the furniture she was including in the sale. Kanye’s was a little smaller and worth a million or so less, but was probably more opulent. His house was fitted with a Crestron system, which allowed him to control the climate, lighting and music from any computer in the world.

  In June, she splashed out on a black Lamborghini, costing $400,000, as a gift for his thirty-fifth birthday. Over the years, the men in her life, including Damon Thomas and Ray J, had all enjoyed driving the prestigious sports cars around the boulevards of Los Angeles. She could afford it. Keeping Up with the Kardashians had been recommissioned for three years by E! for a reported $40 million.

  Kanye wasn’t shy about publicity, but he had to get used to the media demanding a daily diet of Kim stories. She would post something on Twitter or Instagram to her millions of followers and the media would report what she said or did, thereby increasing the exposure. Her use of social media was masterful.

  He had the last laugh, however. He surprised her by announcing that she was pregnant in front of a crowd of 5,000 fans at one of his concerts in Atlantic City on 30 December 2012. Kim, who was in the audience, had expected them to wait until she was showing, but Kanye always acts on impulse. He shouted into the mic, ‘Stop the music!’ and then pointed to Kim in the audience and said, ‘Can we make some noise, please, for my baby mama right here?!’

  The next day she confirmed the news on her website. ‘Kanye and I are expecting a baby. We feel so blessed and lucky and wish that in addition to both of our families, his mom and my dad could be here to celebrate this special time with us.’

  18

  Body Confidence

  One of the first tasks Kanye set himself when he and Kim finally got together was to sort out her closet. Ironically, he decided to do for her what she used to earn a living accomplishing for others. Generally, he doesn’t like being filmed for television, but on this occasion he was happy to let the cameras show him piling up the clothes he thought should go.

  He wanted Kim to be more daring in her choices and not fall into the stereotypical look of a well-dressed Beverly Hills socialite. By the time he had finished, she literally had no clothes left; he had discarded so many of her favourite outfits. Though naturally a little upset, she trusted his judgement. She was in awe of his combination of creativity and certainty. Outside her room, dozens of pairs of barely worn shoes were dumped, ready for eBay.

  She promised that everything would be prepared for online auction within the month and that some of the proceeds would go to the new church the family had founded, called the California Community Church. The pastor, Brad Johnson, had been given a fresh start by Kris Jenner after he had to leave his previous ministry following an adultery scandal. She discovered him working in Starbucks and asked him to lead the new church. They began holding weekend meetings in the ballroom of the Sheraton Agoura Hills Hotel, just a few miles from Calabasas. Church members donate either $1,000 a month or 10 per cent of their incomes. Kim chose to do the latter. Thanks to the financial support of the Kardashians and the congregation, a new purpose-built church is being constructed close by.

  Kanye provided Kim with a whole new wardrobe, including some of the pieces from his Paris fashion shows, as well as other top-drawer designers. He pointed out, ‘Look how dope this shit is.’ Kim agreed it was the ‘dopest stuff’. She tried on a long green dress with a generously plunging neckline, which met with his instant approval: ‘It’s like “I’m getting on best-dressed lists now, I’m stepping all into this territory”.’ When she tried on a busty black dress, he stroked her hips and told her, ‘You look amazing.’ He was obviously impressed with his girlfriend’s body.

  Kim is the perfect subject for a designer. She is and always has been stunning. As Alison Jane Reid points out, ‘There is no denying Kim was born beautiful. At 13, for her eighth-grade graduation, she looks as if she has just stepped out of a Scott Fitzgerald novel, with her cute twenties bob, black eyes and full, rosebud lips. When she is with T. J. Jackson at her high school graduation, she has her hair up, which sculpts her face and shows off those cheekbones and sparkling, confident, look-at-me eyes to perfection. She is film star beautiful. Hers is a kind of old Hollywood beauty, like a young Elizabeth Taylor. Her features, a gift from the Armenian side of her family, give her enviable blue-black hair, peach-coloured skin and almond eyes. She has that kind of luminous, intense beauty that’s impossible to ignore.’

  Kim’s body shape has changed so much over the years. As a young woman, she was petite and relatively slender, albeit with her much admired assets obviously on display. She has had to contend with many rumours that she has had her breasts or bottom enhanced by artificial implants. Her sister Kourtney happily admits that she first had a boob job in college and then some further work in 2009. At 5 feet tall, she was a slip of a girl growing up, whereas Kim always had curves. Her mother, Kris Jenner, is also not shy about the amount of cosmetic surgery she has undergone, including two breast ops and a facelift that she had prior to Kim’s wedding to Kris Humphries.

  Kim only admits to Botox. She has often commented that her breasts are completely real and quite saggy – something she first pointed out in her notorious sex tape. She has described her bottom as perfectly natural for a woman with an Armenian heritage. Many will never believe it is completely natural, however, and there will always be questions. She once tried to silence the rumours on Keeping Up with the Kardashians by having her bottom X-rayed, which proved there was definitely nothing foreign in there, but didn’t disprove theories that she had her own fat inserted.

  The problem for Kim is that her bootylicious derrière has become an essential part of her image and, consequently, her brand. Whatever she wears, we want to see how it shows off her behind. She is happy to fuel this interest. When she posted a picture of her rear squeezed into a tight pair of jeans, she added the comment, ‘I think my butt looks too big in these jeans.’

  It could be argued that Kim’s greatest asset as a fashion role model for young women is not her boobs or backside, but her complete physical self-assurance. Alison Jane Reid observes, ‘She has always had a great décolleté and has been flaunting it since her teenage years. It’s a sign of her extraordinary body confidence. Her bottom definitely seems to have changed shape to the point of being quite out of balance and proportion to her tiny frame. There is a popular craze in LA to have this exaggerated, pert bottom and Kim seems to have been seduced by this. There are trainers and exercises that promise to help you achieve this look all over the Internet.’

  Since Kim emerged into the limelight in 2007, she has been at the forefront of a style that has brought the overtly sexual into the mainstream. Years ago it is a look that would have been considered vulgar, but now it is socially acceptable and aspirational for young women and girls.

  ‘The problem for Kim is that she is inconsistent,’ commented Alison Jane. ‘One moment, she looks like an icon and a female business entrepreneur. The next, she wears a pair of curtains to the Met Ball or a slutty latex dress that makes her look like Jessica Rabbit. When she nails it, she looks like a goddess, as sh
e did in the sublime wine red dress she wore to the 2011 Huffington Post Game Changers Awards in New York. I love the fact that she isn’t afraid to celebrate her voluptuous body, but then she often takes it too far.’

  Being pregnant is always a challenge for a celebrity used to facing the cameras every day they step outside. Their choice of expectant wear is a target for fashion commentators. The ‘pair of curtains’ was, in fact, a specially designed Givenchy gown by Riccardo Tisci, a close friend of Kanye. Kim had modified it considerably to take into account her larger body shape. The jersey dress, with silver grommet detailing, was attached to long sleeves and a high neck. She wasn’t completely covered, however. The dress split high at the sides to reveal her shapely legs.

  The Met Ball, also known as the Met Gala, is generally regarded as the number one fashion event of the year. The official purpose of the night is to raise funds for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, but in reality it is the night when a galaxy of celebrities try to outshine one another. The long-standing chair of the event is Anna Wintour, the legendary editor-in-chief of Vogue.

  The theme of the night in 2013 was punk, but critics poked fun at Kim’s dress, noting the matching accessories and describing it as a Mrs Doubtfire dress. The floral fabric seemed very old fashioned. Alison Jane observed, ‘This would have been great on a supermodel, like her stepsister Kendall Jenner, but it wasn’t a good pregnancy look. It really seemed as if she had just bagged the loose cover from her couch. Memo – never cover yourself in chintz when heavily pregnant.’

  Tisci, the creative director at Givenchy, defended the dress: ‘To me pregnancy is the most beautiful thing in the world, and when you celebrate something, you give people flowers. I think she looked amazing. She was the most beautiful pregnant woman I have dressed in my career.’

  Kim also backed her choice. ‘I thought it was so cool and it got a lot of criticism and I didn’t care because I really loved it.’ While her dress wasn’t well received, it did garner by far the most publicity on the night. Kim’s attitude has always been that it’s better to be noticed than ignored. She and Kanye had taken to wearing matching outfits, but on this occasion he sported an elegant black Givenchy suit and crisp white shirt, matched with shiny black shoes – a sharp contrast to Kim’s fussy ensemble.

  The Met Ball was her last big public outing before she was due to give birth. She was fortunate to have avoided morning sickness, but did admit that being pregnant was a ‘little painful’. Her sister Khloé was more direct: ‘Her back hurts, her breasts hurt, her stomach hurts, her feet hurt, her head hurts, her eyes hurt, her nails hurt. And she cries all the time.’ In fact, Kim was quite poorly during the pregnancy. On one occasion, she was taken ill on a plane and was told by doctors that she needed to throttle back on her work commitments.

  Kimye, as the media had named the couple, prepared for the arrival by buying a new family home, although palace would be a better description of the 10,000 square-foot property in a gated Bel Air community, where their neighbours included Jennifer Aniston and Joe Francis. Set in three-quarters of an acre, the house was so large, it had an elevator to access the five bedrooms and seven bathrooms. It was built in the Tuscan style that Kim liked, but Kanye was intent on remodelling and began a huge redevelopment that practically meant pulling down the house and starting again. There was little chance it would be ready by the time their first child was born.

  Kim decided that she wasn’t going to be filmed giving birth on Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Kourtney, who now had two children, had already done that successfully and apparently easily, and Kim didn’t want millions of viewers watching her push her daughter into the world. She hinted that she intended to be a touch more private in the future. She did, however, share early on in her pregnancy that she was expecting a girl.

  Kanye spent much of Kim’s pregnancy away from home, recording a new album in Paris, where he always felt so inspired, and returning by private jet when he was required for doctor’s appointments. The cast of the reality show never saw him. Bruce Jenner confided that he had met him only once, while his son Brody, who had joined the cast for the ninth series, had never met him. Kim likes Paris, so she would travel over to stay at his loft apartment above a hotel while he concentrated on recording. The result was the critically acclaimed album Yeezus.

  He made it back to Los Angeles for the baby shower, but arrived, hidden underneath a hoodie, when it was nearly all over. This wasn’t a cosy gathering of a handful of guests in the lounge, but a full-blown occasion, bigger than most weddings. The white-themed party was another Kardashian event held in the gardens of the Azoff home in Beverly Hills. A series of marquees was erected, so that guests could dine alfresco while keeping out of the sun. Kim wore a voluminous, flowing white gown and kept cool, thanks to a security guard walking beside her with an open parasol shielding her from the brunchtime sun.

  Thousands of dollars of white bouquets and table arrangements were shipped in as more than 50 guests, including Mel B, Kelly Osbourne, Nicole Richie and Kimberly Stewart mingled and waited their turn to wish the mum-to-be the best of luck. All the women wore white garlands in their hair to match the dress code. Kendall Jenner, who had grown up before the eyes of a television audience, stood out, as any top model should, by wearing all turquoise.

  Very few men braved the day. Lamar Odom and Scott Disick dutifully arrived together. Kim’s nephew, Mason, wore white and looked the image of his father. Kanye clearly didn’t want the photographers to take his picture on this particular day, although his reluctance to show his face may also have had something to do with him ending his association with Irving Azoff. The Live Nation company had promoted his Watch the Throne tour with Jay Z, but apparently Irving and Kanye didn’t agree about how his career should progress.

  Inevitably, Kanye’s prolonged absence in Paris led to whispers that all was not well with the relationship. On top of that, Kim had to deal with a kiss-and-tell story in which a Canadian model claimed to have slept with Kanye after a concert in Atlantic City the previous summer. She also alleged a meeting took place in October in New York, where he kept an apartment. Considering the high profile of the Kardashians, there have been relatively few exposés over the years. The most graphic, as far as Kim personally is concerned, was when a porn star called Julian St Jox alleged he had a threesome with Kim and another woman – a porn actress – at a swingers’ party in Culver City when Kim was 20.

  The rumours were well wide of the mark, as Kanye prepared to be based full time in California by quietly listing his Manhattan bachelor apartment for $4.5 million. He intended to take family life seriously when his daughter was born. He instructed removal men to ship his most precious possessions to Los Angeles.

  His move coincided with the news, a week after the baby shower, that after many months Kim was finally divorced. Apparently, the lawyers reached a settlement in April that put an end to nearly two years of legal jousting. Kim and Kris had both signed a prenup, but the prolonged proceedings were due to Kris demanding an annulment rather than a straightforward divorce. In the end, agreement was reached before she was due to give birth, which was a huge relief to her. In any self-respecting rom-com, the heroine takes a wrong turn before realising where true love lies and, unfortunately for all concerned, the marriage to Kris was Kim’s.

  She was supposed to have six weeks before the delivery date, but that didn’t happen. Instead, 12 days after becoming a free woman again, she was rushed to her birthing suite at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, complaining that all was not well. She needed to go into emergency labour, because she was suffering from pre-eclampsia, a condition that can affect women in the latter stages of pregnancy and result in soaringly high blood pressure. The only way to cure it is to deliver the baby, so Kim gave birth five weeks early, on 15 June 2013, to a girl weighing 4lb 15oz. Kanye made it to the hospital in time, although he waited outside during the emergency delivery. Sweetly, he couldn’t contain his excitement: ‘When I
walked in to see her, Kim was holding the baby. I said, “Oh my God, you’re a natural.” Kim said, “I know, it’s so weird.”’

  The expectation was that they would name the child something beginning with K, and Kaidance was an early favourite. Speculation ended when news was leaked that she was going to be called North, which led to much guffawing in the media. One humorist suggested the child was going to go straight to the top … and a little to the left. According to Kris Jenner, the choice had nothing to do with points of the compass. Instead, Kim explained to her that the significance of North was that to them it meant highest power, and her birth was the highest point of their life to date. Kris said, ‘I thought that was really sweet.’ Mostly, Kim and Kanye called their new daughter Nori, a neat combination of their middle names – Noel and Omari.

  Their new home wasn’t ready. They were still choosing the furnishings, including gold fittings for the four luxury toilets, a Swarovski-encrusted fridge-freezer and six special edition beds similar to the ones in the best suites at the Savoy Hotel in London. The new family moved into Kris Jenner’s house in Hidden Hills. She and Bruce spent most of their time at a property they still owned in Malibu, which gave Kim and Kanye some privacy – although they employed a nurse to make sure their premature baby suffered no problems in her early weeks.

  Three days after North was born, the album Yeezus was released and went to number one in both the UK and the US, as well as another 29 countries worldwide. June was turning out to be a very good month. They decided against negotiating a fee for the first pictures of their baby. They didn’t need the money, as Forbes placed them fifth among the highest-earning celebrity couples, with $30 million – still some way behind top-ranked Jay Z and Beyoncé, who had collected $95 million the previous year.

  Instead, Kanye was a guest on the season finale of Kris Jenner’s new talk show and proudly showed a picture of his child on screen. He spoke movingly of his love for Kim and North: ‘Now I have two really special people to live for, a whole family to live for; a whole world to live for.’ Disappointingly for Kris, who up until this point seemed to have a Midas touch on TV, the show was cancelled by Fox after six episodes – even a rare interview with Kanye couldn’t save it.