by Sean Smith
She was the initiator and executive producer on a documentary called #RedFlag, which aimed to heighten awareness of mental health issues. The premise of the film, which was shown on the American channel HLN (Headline News), was that social media could help people who were distressed. She was hoping to break down the taboo of mental illness. She wanted to let social media users, particularly youngsters, know that it was OK to admit to an issue with their mental health and understand that they weren’t alone, there was assistance available to them. Kim explained her motivation: ‘I have so many friends who have suffered from depression and other mental illnesses. And because I’ve never experienced it, I don’t understand it. I wanted to really inform myself because it’s not something you can snap out of.’
The newly serious and enlightened Kim has been able to accept and support Caitlyn Jenner and share her concern at the treatment of transgender people. Her relationship with Caitlyn has changed: ‘We’re definitely closer and I understand her a bit better, and her struggle.’ She wasn’t particularly happy with her remarks about Kris Jenner in the Vanity Fair article, however, and told her that she didn’t need to bash the family on her way up. For the moment, there is an overwhelming public love affair with Caitlyn Jenner and her brave decision to reveal her transition, but it will be interesting to see if that changes in the future, as people become more accustomed to treating her like any other celebrity.
People who think Kim can’t be taken seriously because she posts naked pictures of her famous rear online are confusing the brand with the person. Kim Kardashian, in my opinion, is a product just as much as a chocolate bar or a smartphone. You need to be highly visible to be successful. If you are the CEO of one of these concerns, you want to get on the Tube and see people eating your snack or playing a game on your make of mobile. If you are Kim Kardashian West, you are the CEO of the Kim Kardashian brand and you want to see it everywhere – in magazines and newspapers; you want to smell the perfume on a young woman going to work and recognise that it’s yours or see a piece from your jewellery collection dangling on her wrist. It’s part of the job description to promote the product, which, in this case, just so happens to be herself.
A problem Kim has as a brand is: how can she be judged to be successful? If you are an actress, you can win an Oscar or an Emmy. A musician like Kanye will win applause for taking home a Grammy or a BRIT Award. As a brand, Kim’s success can best be measured in financial terms. By that yardstick, she is doing fantastically well, with a current net worth estimated at $85 million, which, combined with Kanye’s $130 million, gives them a family fortune of $215 million, but that figure is rising rapidly. It will greatly increase in the next year, thanks to the new E! deal and her Kim Kardashian: Hollywood app.
The first question she was asked, when she was interviewed at the prestigious Code/Mobile conference in Half Moon Bay, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley, was: ‘Why do people not take you more seriously?’ In her reply, she expressed her frustration about this, but admitted, ‘I think when people hear that I might have gotten success off a reality show they take that as a negative.’
That is certainly true. If reality TV programmes were a sport, they would be in the Olympics by now, but for some reason they aren’t considered an acceptable genre in which to excel. There are so many bad ones that I can’t see why you can’t be applauded for being good at it. ‘I don’t think reality TV gets the respect it deserves,’ she said firmly. If there’s one question she hates, it would have to be: ‘What do you do?’
Kim and the entire cast continue to emphasise the importance of family at every opportunity. She loves the fact that her job involves the people she cares about most. They are a raggle-taggle bunch who can’t seem to sustain proper relationships. Hopefully, Kim and Kanye will break the mould and not fail. Absolutely anything and everything happens to this family – the rest of us might have at least one thing in common with them, but the Kardashians take everything to the extreme, and that’s part of their appeal.
Should I ever return to that hotel in Calabasas, I hope that I can catch up with the receptionist who wondered about the point of Kim Kardashian. I would tell her why I think she should be applauded for what she has achieved. Kim is always going to get those who will sneer at the sex tape and the role that it played in her subsequent career. She just has to live with that, but I don’t suppose she loses any sleep over it.
This time next year I expect we will see Kim and Kanye walking along a Calabasas mall with their two children in their arms. Goodness knows how she will manage to fit in being a mum of two with her already ridiculous schedule. I remember reading a week in the life of Kim back in 2012: Paris one day, Los Angeles the next, then New York for the Late Show with David Letterman, home to Los Angeles for a day, on to the Ivory Coast in Africa for a mobile-phone launch and then Paris for Fashion Week. That’s changed a little because of North, but she still works all the hours she can.
When Piers Morgan asked Kim what she put down under occupation on her passport, she said she usually made up something, like teacher. There are so many real things she could list – TV star, businesswoman, entrepreneur, model, photographer, mother. She is all these things and many more. In our modern world, there is something that she could choose that, for me, best reflects her position in society … I think she should just put down ‘fame’.
Kim’s Stars
It can be so easy to become accustomed to good fortune. Kim has the birth chart of someone destined for enormous success. Jupiter, planet of royalty and excess, stands proud at the Virgo Midheaven, the highest point of her chart, and its godly rays protect and enlarge many areas of her personality and life. Jupiter bestows confidence and optimism, allows a sense of control over one’s destiny and promotes growth beyond the limits many endure in their lives. However, as a double dose of cosmic luck, a tight link between Jupiter and its starry opposite, Saturn, planet of restrictions and limitations, suggests Kim is someone who will never take things for granted. There is always fear wherever Saturn sits. In this chart, the fear is of public failure – one of the many spurs that will motivate her to give of her best.
This placement of Saturn and Jupiter in discerning, perfectionist Virgo warns us that she will not accept anything second-rate, either in those upon whom she depends, or indeed herself. Kim also knows how to read the world – she is astute, savvy, with an eye for detailed analysis of situations and an understanding of how organisations and people operate.
Mercury, planet of commerce, communication and mischief, rules her Midheaven, so a natural environment for Kim’s success would be within the media or, indeed, big business. A tendency to overanalyse might seem like indecision, but this will be offset by an ability to think far ahead of her time. She has a gift for pulling disparate factors and people together, creating order. Such is her inherent instinct and skill for enterprise that she would be an enormous asset to any international corporate establishment.
Success is one thing, reputation another. Kim’s career accomplishments will make her a commanding figure; nonetheless, there will be occasions when she may feel undermined, her power eroded. Mars, planet of assertion, in the sign of Sagittarius and awkwardly placed, suggests potential shortcomings, one of which is ever-expanding goals and a level of consequent dissatisfaction. But perhaps, more importantly, there will be occasions when she struggles to define and ask for what she wants, as opposed to what others want. Then this inability to steer her own course may result in actions that make little sense to anyone and behaviour that is emotionally explosive, even self-destructive. Things will fall into place best when Kim directs her very great gifts into fighting for a collective cause – this is when her courage will flow and her reputation will be assured.
Kim has a very strong instinct for speaking the truth. Her ideas will often be radical and her views won’t be constrained by traditional values unless she wholly believes in them. Indeed, her inclination for holding nothing back will supersede any bond
of loyalty, even to herself. Clearly then, this gabby gift to the gossipmongers will sometimes trip her up. Ultimately, however, as detailed later on, it is likely to be her greatest strength.
With her Sun, the planet of identity, in the harmony-loving sign of Libra, Kim will have acted as a mediator and peacemaker between her siblings and parents. She may have performed the role of emotional caretaker and will be highly sensitive to those within society who are excluded. It is likely she will have developed both humour and resignation in this role as go-between and there will have been times when she needed all of her mercurial skills to extricate herself from some hidden agendas. With Uranus, planet of sudden change, rebellion and independence, influencing the area of her chart linked to siblings, her relationships will be marked by unpredictability – periods of disconnection, followed by closeness. With the sign of Scorpio implicated, bonds will sometimes be affected by suspect motives, rivalry and manipulation, but she needs her siblings and loves them very much. As part of an extended family, Kim will be matchless at promoting genuine friendships; that is, relationships of equality, tolerance and fairness. She will work through her own wounding to give practical and kind support.
Kim’s father will have had an enormous impact upon her, revealed by the dominant placement of the patriarchal planets Saturn and Jupiter. The position of this first planet will act as a spur, either by exciting a need to live up to her father’s success and expectations, or by burdening Kim to achieve a failed paternal ambition. Her achievement would thus be perceived as redemption of the family reputation. Jupiter, king of the gods, is associated with ethics and integrity, so Father would have modelled these virtues and handed on to her an appreciation of the divine – a sense of religious identity or set of beliefs that will have made a huge impact on her. She will carry them with her all of her life.
Looking at any of the planets taken to signify Father – Sun, Jupiter, Saturn – it is clear they all link awkwardly to the Moon. The latter, being the planet that symbolises Mother in a chart, suggests an inherent tension between the parents. Kim’s Moon in Neptune, sign of unconditional love, suggests a compassionate mother, but one who was unavailable at times, perhaps uncertainty around her own primary relationship creating emotional distance. Her importance to Kim is enormous, although there may be a blurring and confusion around the role she plays – often she will be more like a sister. It is likely, though, that Kim will place her on something of a pedestal.
The awkward link between the Sun and Moon once again, at a personal level, spells out a message. Kim’s uncertainty in integrating what she needs with what she wants and defining her own agenda will cause inner discomfort. Compromising and adjusting will be the pattern activated by an overdeveloped need to please others. The main arenas in which this will play out will be those concerning her image – the face she presents to the world – and her partnerships.
Neptune, planet of glamour, illusion, victimhood and sacrifice, is placed prominently in Kim’s chart at a point called the Ascendant. She is highly sensitive to others and this instinctive speed-reading of their needs allows her to respond in a way that will ensure her acceptance and popularity. With a partner, a guardian figure or even the public, Kim’s compliance will ease her journey through life, but the path could be a slippery one. Kim is someone who charismatically embodies ideals of femininity, not least those defined by commercial values, so her own desire to live up to the expectations of others can undermine her. The real question is whether a certain naivety and her desire for fame have been exploited; whether those who should have protected her have occasionally let her down. Awareness is everything if patterns are not to be repeated.
Kim will look foremost for a partner who is companionable and mentally stimulating. Gemini, sign of the twins, marks the chart area associated with partnerships, suggesting an attraction to those who are adaptable, flirtatious, fun-loving and, above all, easy communicators. She will enjoy arguments, not least because they are a way of clarifying her own views and ideas and are a means of learning. Discussions could become very heated, however, if she uses her perceptive insights in a manipulative way. At an emotional level, Kim can be an instinctive strategist, able to play the victim or innocent party to great advantage – perhaps something she learned as a defence mechanism early on.
Kim’s Sun, a symbol of men in her life, is linked to Pluto, shadowy planet of power. It is likely her father was a figure of potency, somebody exposed to the darker sides of human nature and society in general and able to deal with the grittier aspects of life. Perhaps through his experience Kim learned about confrontation and ways of dealing with it. Friendship in marriage will be vital for her, but there will also be a desire for magnetism and strength – the type of individual you don’t ignore. Most importantly, acknowledging her own very great need for independence will help her to choose wisely; otherwise, she is likely to pick someone who will give her that freedom when she least expects it.
Looking ahead, Kim will shortly experience a number of important planetary transits. Jupiter, planet of good fortune and hope, links to Venus in November 2015. This will be a time when she will enjoy being the centre of attention and her current relationships are harmonious. Any relationship that starts now will be one in which the balance between freedom and love is easily achieved. She will want to surround herself with beauty, but should be careful not to squander resources.
This will be followed by a period of responsibilities in January 2016, as Saturn, planet of restrictions and authority, crosses the Ascendant. This really is the beginning of a new cycle for Kim, one that feels initially constraining, but will lead to greater maturity, realism and status. Kim will need to complete what needs to be finished, so that life can be simplified, cutting away excess and all distractions that are not conducive to her development over the next seven years. Relationships that aren’t strong and worth fighting for may not last – she will know they no longer belong to her future.
This is an important period for her, because it presents a time when she can put up proper boundaries and take greater control of her life, possibly something that will feel very alien to her. To have Neptune on the Ascendant in the birth chart is a mixed blessing. At its best, Kim can give expression to collective feelings and images. She embodies modern femininity for countless women, who admire the way she has used her looks and brains to build a successful public presence. She is open about her sexual nature. She is powerful. All of this is of vital importance when women in many areas around the globe are subjugated, abused, even culled at birth, creating a psychic wound in the world. The openness with which she deals with the emotional realm is another important validation of the feminine. At a personal level, however, there may have been some cost, and this transit of Saturn will provide her with the chance to be discerning and more selective both in whom she chooses to trust and in the way she allows the public access to her.
Kim’s ascendant sign, Sagittarius, the centaur, also hints at the way this resourceful woman may develop. The symbol is part animal, part human. Thus, early on, one may be driven by instinctual needs – greed, the need for attention or whatever – but could begin the lengthy journey towards the noble ideals and lofty vision of the philanthropist, given a supportive birth chart and a heavy Saturn transit. As mentioned earlier, perhaps Kim’s greatest asset is her instinct and ability to speak the truth and one day this will be employed for the greater good. Meanwhile, Kim will continue to experience worldly success.
Later in September 2016, Jupiter reaches the very top of her chart, an augury of prosperity, and spends approximately a year highlighting her achievements. There will be some conflict between her home and public life, possibly coming to a head in July 2016, when she experiences an awkward link between Uranus, planet of rebellion, and natal Uranus in her chart, associated with her siblings. This could be a period of family tension. This transit will reccur in August 2016 and again in April 2017 and will mark out the steps of growing independence and i
ndividuation for her.
Finally, in February 2016, the planet Pluto, moving forward, will wield an influence on her personal finances and her values. Pluto is the planet of breakdown and regeneration, so she may have to deal with a period when her resources are reorganised. Perhaps more importantly, there will be a major and irrevocable change in the way she thinks of and uses her assets. Eventually, there may be a shift away from an emphasis on material acquisition in her life towards a greater endorsement of moral and spiritual imperatives. In the words of another fashionista, ‘There are people who have money and people who are rich’ (Coco Chanel).
Madeleine Moore
August 2015
Life and Times
21 Oct 1980: Kimberly Noel Kardashian is born in Los Angeles, California. She has a sister, Kourtney, who is 18 months older. Her parents are businessman and former lawyer Robert Kardashian and his wife, Kristen Houghton. The family lived in a private cul-de-sac in Beverly Hills called Tower Lane.
June 1984: Younger sister Khloé is born. The children lead an idyllic and privileged existence surrounded by cats, dogs, rabbits and birds. For a time, both Madonna and Bruce Springsteen are neighbours.
March 1987: Her brother Robert, known as Rob, is born. Kim goes to the Buckley School in Sherman Oaks, where she meets Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie and Kimberly Stewart.
April 1991: Is a bridesmaid at the wedding of her mother Kris to Olympic champion Bruce Jenner four weeks after Kris’s divorce is finalised.
June 1994: ‘Auntie Nicole’, Nicole Brown Simpson, is murdered. O. J. Simpson is subsequently charged and Robert Kardashian renews his licence to practise law to join his defence team. The trial causes much tension within the family.
