by Sean Smith
Of course, his insecurity, his growing bulk and his lack of desire to be filmed all featured on the show. He missed the Christmas celebration and couldn’t face being a much-photographed guest at Kim’s wedding to Kanye. Apparently, he flew to Europe before realising that he didn’t want to be pictured so heavy, and caught a flight straight back home. When they discussed their worries about him on the show, Kim observed, ‘He obviously has some kind of depression.’
He has always been in the shadow of his glamorous sisters, although he did far better than Kim on Dancing with the Stars, finishing runner-up in 2011. Kris found him enough commercial deals to become a millionaire, but he is nothing like as successful as his sisters, who have all manner of clothing shops and brands on their CV. Rob had to make do with his own sock line, called Arthur George.
He dated Rita Ora for a moment or two in 2012, but that quickly became nothing and he hasn’t had a serious relationship since Adrienne Bailon, which ended in 2009. He may return to the show on a more full-time basis in the future, because it clearly needs a regular male character, but they may well build up roles for Corey and Tyga.
Kim has been surprisingly unsympathetic towards her kid brother, believing the family is being overindulgent. She acknowledged that he doesn’t feel comfortable appearing on the show because of all the weight he has put on, but said: ‘Do I think he smokes weed, drinks beer, hangs out and plays video games with his friends all day long? Yes.’ Rob was reportedly furious that she spoke about him and was said to have blocked her from his phone. A few weeks later, however, relations appeared to have thawed again when he shared a picture of Kanye and North on Instagram and subsequently went for a hike with Kim, which she tweeted about as ‘the hardest hike ever’.
Rob, now 28, still lives with Khloé in the house she bought after breaking up with Lamar Odom. She filed for divorce in early December 2013, after a turbulent year that included her husband’s alleged battle with substance abuse and his arrest for driving under the influence – she herself had a DUI during the first series of the show. She also had to contend with various women coming forward to claim they’ve had affairs with the basketball player. Unsurprisingly, they sought marriage guidance, but that failed to provide any solutions.
Khloé is the most extrovert and emotional of the Kardashians. She is also extremely popular with people she meets every day in restaurants and stores. In the show, she plays the volatile sister, Kim is the sweet one and Kourtney is the thoughtful sibling. This represents only one aspect of their personalities, but it’s the trait that has been developed to give them an individual identity on the show.
Khloé has had more than her share of the drama – not least in the question of her parentage. It’s become almost a game online to speculate who her father might be, with suggestions ranging from O. J. Simpson to Lionel Richie and her mother’s hairdresser, Alex Roldan. In one episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Kris had a DNA test to prove that her daughter wasn’t adopted, but it proved nothing about her father.
Both of Robert Kardashian’s other wives, Jan Ashley and Ellen Kardashian, have claimed he told them he was not Khloé’s dad, which wasn’t very helpful to her. It’s really a Prince Harry syndrome. Conspiracy theorists will always believe he is James Hewitt’s son on the spurious grounds that he has red hair. Khloé has never looked like her older sisters, but in terms of biology, their comparative looks are completely irrelevant.
After her split from Lamar, Khloé became involved with rapper French Montana (Karim Kharbouch), but it turned into nothing more than a friendship. She offered him support after his best friend and fellow rapper Chinx was the victim of a drive-by shooting in New York. French, the CEO of Cocaine City Records, had himself survived being shot in the head outside a recording studio in NYC in 2003.
Khloé has since been linked to James Harden, who is a star basketball player like Lamar. He’s 6ft 5in, is nicknamed ‘The Beard’, for obvious reasons, and plays for the Houston Rockets. He also won an Olympic gold medal with the US basketball team at the London 2012 Olympics. Khloé has been pictured supporting him courtside, but it’s early days to see if anything will come of it.
Her divorce proceedings have been as drawn out as those of Kim and Kris Humphries but reports suggest they finally signed the papers in July 2015. She still talks to him as often as she can. She remains very gracious about him, telling Complex magazine, ‘Lamar is genuinely one of the best people I’ve ever met and everyone says that when they meet him . . . He’s had a really hard life.’
Since the breakup, she has concentrated on working out and looking her best for her first time on the cover of Complex magazine, emulating Kim from 2007. She has never looked so good. Ironically, she managed to keep her marriage problems entirely secret during the filming of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Like Caitlyn’s gender issues, there are some things that are too too private to share with millions of viewers.
For once, Kim’s wasn’t the biggest story in the Kardashian world when she announced, at the beginning of June 2015, that she was pregnant with her second child, a son. The iconic cover of Vanity Fair, featuring Caitlyn’s first picture as a woman, overshadowed it. Kim didn’t mind; she was just grateful that after some fertility worries she was able to conceive. She and Kanye had been having sex a ‘thousand’ times a day to ensure conception. It evidently worked.
The demands of a second child seem unlikely to slow Kim down, especially as her brand continues to flourish and now, in effect, has double the power, because she is married to such a famous man. Intriguingly, she has become an executive producer on Keeping Up with the Kardashians for the new season – a sign perhaps that she intends to step away from the limelight a little, despite her brand relying so much on a daily diet of exposure.
At first, Kim seemed almost too eager to please, too quick to be influenced by a very talented man. Since her wedding, however, her fashion and lifestyle choices seem inspired. Husband and wife find time every day to speak to each other – not just about their own lives, but about what’s going on in the world. And they support each other.
Kim was a step behind her husband when he was the star attraction at the 2015 BRITs. He performed his single ‘All Day’, surrounded by what the Guardian described as a ‘Greek chorus of 40-odd men in black tracksuits and hoodies, two of them holding giant flame-throwers.’ It was a theatrical tour de force. He was upholding the Kardashian edict of making sure you are part of the conversation. In this case, he was the only conversation at the usually tepid awards, hosted by Ant and Dec.
Kim made sure she got in on the act by presenting the Global Success Award to Sam Smith for his number one UK single ‘Stay with Me’. She shouted ‘Wassup, London!’ not entirely convincingly, but was dressed breathtakingly. She showcased the Kardashian Wests’ now preferred monochrome in an all-black Julien Macdonald jumpsuit that barely covered her generous chest and looked as if someone had attacked it with a pair of scissors. After Sam had been ushered off stage, she had the chance to take a selfie with the grinning hosts, which was neat publicity for her book, Selfish.
She was also at Glastonbury at the end of June, when Kanye was a controversial choice to headline the festival. Kim looked uncertain as she arrived by helicopter in the middle of a Somerset field in unsuitably high heels. While her sister Kendall danced away with Cara Delevingne, she watched proudly from the wings as her husband performed. Some wise guy in the crowd tried to dampen the excitement by producing a banner showing a scene from her sex tape in which Ray J’s penis was perilously close to her mouth, presumably to try to distract Kanye or provoke a reaction.
The Daily Telegraph pointed out: ‘Kim Kardashian made a sex tape in 2003, and despite becoming a billionaire business woman with one of the world’s strongest brands, finding love and becoming a mother, we are still somehow totally unwilling to let go of something that she did when she was 23 years old and that she presumably thought would remain private.’
Kanye took his tu
rn to support his wife in Armenia in April and the following month, when she once again braved the red carpet at the Met Ball in New York. Kanye, she admits, has given her a new confidence in fashion, but more importantly has convinced her that it is acceptable to experiment, even if you don’t always get it right. He has moved her away from treating fashion as a commercial opportunity.
This time her dress, by Peter Dundas for Roberto Cavalli, was a total success. Alison Jane Reid enthused, ‘As a perfect celebration of a woman’s form, and the art of the couturier, this earthly bird of paradise dress is a masterpiece. It is a glorious, trembling, unabashed homage to the glory of sensuous curves and the ability of well-placed exquisite embroideries and precision engineering to reveal and conceal at the same time. This is how you do sexy Kim Kardashian – in lace, not latex, and fluttering, shake-your-tail feathers. I think a gown like this does wonders for voluptuous women the world over.’
Kim then had to return to the day job, dressing around her pregnancy and ringing Silicon Valley every day to talk about the latest ideas for her app, now her principal money-spinner. All her businesses so far have relied on the success of Keeping Up with the Kardashians for their oxygen.
Reality television is now an acceptable genre. Kevin O’Sullivan observes, ‘The Kardashians are artistically underrated. This family is not just going in front of the cameras and being filmed. They are putting on a performance. There is a dazzling brilliance about the Kardashians. It may be staged and slightly ridiculous, but, by Christ, they are doing it well. They are the first and the best.’
At the heart of that brilliance is Kim, a consummate professional in all she does. She continues to be derided as devoid of talent, as if winning a television dance contest would in some way legitimise her success, huge wealth, lovely home and a family that loves her. If what she did were easy and everyone could do it, there would be a million Kim Kardashians out there, but there aren’t. There is only one.
LAST THOUGHTS
The car park at the Sheraton Agoura Hills is full. I’m here, like everyone else, for the 11a.m. service of the California Community Church. When Kris Jenner founded the church in 2010, it was called the Life Change Community Church, but was rebranded three years later. It’s the Kardashian personal place of worship, although you aren’t going to see them in the front-row seats every Sunday. The last time they came en masse was for the Easter service. Everyone wore white, including Kim, Kanye and baby North.
Kim attends occasionally, usually with her mother, and, in particular, when it’s been a bad week, as it was when she decided to split from Kris Humphries after only 72 days of marriage. After a trip to hear Pastor Brad Johnson speak, she tweeted that she ‘needed that’.
I was expecting a Californian experience of Botox and gospel, but it is surprisingly cool. There’s coffee and cake before we get underway and everyone is happy to welcome a new face. The Kardashians are invariably fashionably dressed when they turn up, but the regular congregation doesn’t overdo it. Pastor Brad is wearing an extra-large T-shirt and has very white celebrity teeth, but he is funny, likeable and self-deprecating. He talks about his grandson, but there isn’t a grey hair on his head.
There’s no church organ being played by a local piano teacher here. Instead, a house band with a good sound system plays tight God-rock. Of course, the lyrics have a happy-clappy slant and flash up on a big screen: ‘Sing Holy, Holy, Holy’ and ‘Beautiful One I Love’, but it’s a perfectly pleasant introduction to worship.
The idea of the church is to promote a sense of community in an area where it’s hard to get to know your neighbours, because everyone values privacy and security so highly. One idea, projected on the screen, is called ‘Dinner for Eight’, in which one member of the congregation hosts a getting-to-know-you supper for seven others. Another initiative is for a women’s weekend retreat costing $230. They won’t be going to a remote part of the Nevada desert or the Rockies, however. It’s in Malibu. My overall impression is that this church could be a slimming club or a Women’s Institute gathering – an informal and relaxed way of getting out of the house and meeting people who share a common bond – in this case, using God to find meaning in their lives.
Kim told Piers Morgan, when he interviewed her in 2011, that she gave 10 per cent of her earnings to good causes – partly to the community church. She confirmed that she had given away millions. As well as the church, she supports a charity called Dream Foundation, a national organisation, based in Santa Barbara, which grants wishes for terminally ill adults, aged 18 or over. ‘It’s not just about giving away,’ she said. ‘It’s about finding something you really connect with. So when I find something like the Dream Foundation, it makes it so much more meaningful.’ She also donated the financial worth of her wedding gifts from her ill-fated second marriage to the charity.
Sometimes Kim will be moved to give to something in the news. In November 2013, she donated the profits from an eBay auction to the International Medical Corps (IMC) to aid those affected by the deadly Typhoon Yolanda, which killed thousands of people in the Philippines. She tends to change the beneficiary of her eBay auctions, depending on what has caught her eye.
She started supporting the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles seven years ago and, as well as regular donations, continues to find time in her schedule to pop in unannounced to visit the sick patients. Sometimes Kanye or her sisters will go with her, but often she is quite happy to slip in by herself and sit at a bedside.
When she arrives, she has presents such as iTunes gift cards or beauty products. All the children, of course, want to have a selfie taken with Kim Kardashian and sometimes she posts them online for them. At other times, she will just chat or help a young girl to do her nails.
Her guiding light here, as in so many areas of her life, is her father, Robert Kardashian, who died from cancer: ‘I remember what it was like when my dad was going through it. You see the kids that are so strong. They feel so helpless. You want to do anything to help them.’
The cynical will always believe that celebrity charity is all about tax advantages and publicity. That may be the truth where some well-known names are concerned, but not Kim Kardashian. Just because she has built her brand around a frivolous TV show doesn’t mean she lacks a social conscience. When all the extravagance and opulence of her baby shower during her first pregnancy was over, she quietly arranged for all the presents to be packed up and sent to a children’s hospital in Chicago, the city where Kanye grew up.
Variety reflected the improved perception of Kim by naming her in their list of five Inspiration Impact Honorees at the Power of Women lunch in New York in April 2015. She was recognised for her support of the children’s hospital in LA. Perhaps her next book will be entitled Selfless.
While her father remains the biggest influence on Kim’s character, Kanye has empowered her to be a stronger woman. Her sister Khloé acknowledges the difference he has made: ‘What I love about Kanye is he wants to build her up instead of take her down . . . She finally has someone who wants to elevate her and make her like this queen and beautiful princess that she is.’ Kanye is firmly in the camp that believes celebrity can be used to make a difference, to project one’s own ideas, and one should never be frightened of being passionate about something.
His support was clear during her first visit to Armenia in April 2015 with the mission of bringing the anniversary of her mother country’s genocide to the world’s attention. This was Kim Kardashian, selfie queen, meeting the prime minister of a country to talk about something that really mattered. It’s part of a gradual process over the past year of making Kim more serious. The Armenian trip raised awareness of one important issue, but there have been others.
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.
