Sunday night marks the premiere of the sixteenth season of Keeping Up With the Kardashians—which, frankly, is wild. Since the show first debuted, in the fall of 2007, the Kardashians and Jenners have become basically ubiquitous in pop culture, and along with the fame and the money, there comes controversy. A lot of it.
Ahead of the upcoming season, Kim Kardashian West, Khloé Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, Kendall Jenner, and their momager, Kris Jenner, talked with the New York Times about the business side of the family—and in the process ended up speaking out (on the record!) about the numerous headline-making dramas that have affected the family over the past year.
Let's break it all down by controversy.
The Khloé-Tristan-Jordyn Drama
ICYMI, Woods is Kylie Jenner's (maybe former?) best friend whom NBA player Tristan Thompson, a.k.a. the father of Khloé's daughter, True, reportedly kissed. Yeah, it's a lot. (You can catch up on the saga here.)
In the wake of the news, fans noticed that one Lip Kit Kylie had created with Woods had its price slashed online, which was interpreted as a shady move by Kylie. Not true, says the cosmetics mogul: The product was actually on sale as part of a packaging change, and it had happened weeks before the gossip story broke. “That is just not my character. I would never do something like that, and when I saw it, I was, like, thrown back,” Kylie told the Times. “Jordyn knows I didn’t actually put it on sale.”
Being a "Self-Made" Billionaire
The Internet got very worked up when Forbes declared Kylie the youngest self-made billionaire, given the privilege into which she was born even before she launched her wildly successful cosmetics company.
Despite the controversy, Kylie hasn't commented much about the honor until now. “I can’t say I’ve done it by myself,” she says. “If they’re just talking finances, technically, yes, I don’t have any inherited money. But I have had a lot of help and a huge platform.”
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Fyre Fest
Supermodel Kendall Jenner was one of the influencers hired to promote the disastrous Fyre Fest music festival in the Bahamas that spawned not one, but two, documentaries. She says she wasn't involved in the event itself, but she did learn from the experience.
“You get reached out to by people to, whether it be to promote or help or whatever, and you never know how these things are going to turn out; sometimes it’s a risk,” she said. “I definitely do as much research as I can, but sometimes there isn’t much research you can do because it’s a starting brand, and you kind of have to have faith in it and hope it will work out the way people say it will.”
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Critiques of Their Sponsorship Choices
The Good Place actress Jameela Jamil has become one of the family's most vocal critics—frequently calling out the images they put forth on social media and the brands, like Flat Tummy Tea, that they choose to partner with. Jamil recently commented on Khloé's Instagram: "If you're too irresponsible to: a) own up to the fact that you have a personal trainer, nutritionist, probable chef, and a surgeon to achieve your aesthetic, rather than this laxative product...And b) tell them the side effects of this NON-FDA approved product, that most doctors are saying [isn't] healthy. Side effects such as: Possible Flat Tummy Tea side effects are cramping, stomach pains, diarrhea and dehydration... Then I guess I have to. It's incredibly awful that this industry bullied you until you became this fixated on your appearance. That's the media's fault. But now please don't put that back into the world, and hurt other girls, the way you have been hurt.
"You're a smart woman," she wrapped her comment. "Be smarter than this."
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The Kardashian family took the opportunity to respond to this and other criticisms of some of the images they promote. Khloé says in the piece that “I never knew I was considered chubby until I became famous,” that she doesn't have a personal chef, and that she is very open about the personal training sessions she utilizes to get fit, knowing this is a luxury. For her part, Kris says, “I don’t live in that negative energy space,” she said. “Ninety percent of people will be really excited about the family and the journey and who we are.”
Fast Fashion
Recently Kim came under fire when people wondered whether she was partnering with some of the "fast fashion" companies, like Fashion Nova, that quickly knock off designer looks and offer them for sale at affordable prices. She went on a lengthy Twitter rant about the issue and denied being involved in the process.
She also told the Times that she often turns down lucrative offers from such companies. When one offered her a million-dollar deal, she says her husband, Kanye West, asked her to turn it down because "these companies knock off my stuff." Instead, he wrote her a million-dollar check for Mother's Day. “He wrote me a check for that amount and said, ‘Thank you so much for always being supportive and not posting,’” Kim said.
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The new season of Keeping Up With the Kardashians premieres on Sunday, March 31, at 9:00 P.M. ET on E!.
