Kim Kardashian

Kimberly Noel Kardashian (born October 21, 1980) is an American media personality, socialite, and businesswoman. She first gained media attention in 2007 following the unauthorized release of a sex tape with American singer Ray J. Afterwards, she and her family began to appear on the E! reality television series Keeping Up with the Kardashians. The show aired until 2021, and its success led to the formation of several spin-offs before its revival in the form of Hulu's The Kardashians (2022–present) as part of her and her family's multi-year deal with the streaming service.

Kardashian founded KKW Beauty and KKW Fragrance in 2017, both of which operated until 2022; the former was valued at over US$1 billion in 2021. She founded the shaping underwear and foundation garment company Skims in 2019, which is valued at over US$4 billion as of 2023. Kardashian founded her skincare line, SKKN by Kim, in 2022. She has released a variety of products tied to her name, including the 2014 mobile game Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, the 2015 photo book Selfish, and the 2015 emoji app Kimoji. Her acting credits include the films Disaster Movie (2008), Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor (2013), two PAW Patrol films (2021 and 2023), the twelfth season of the anthology horror series American Horror Story (2023–2024), and the legal drama series All's Fair (2025–present).

Time magazine included Kardashian on their list of 2015's 100 most influential people. She was named among Fortune magazine's Most Powerful Women in the world in 2023. With a significant presence online and a large following across numerous social media platforms, she is the eighth-most-followed individual on Instagram and the thirteenth-most-followed individual on Twitter. Both critics and admirers have described Kardashian as exemplifying the notion of being famous for being famous. She first appeared on Forbes's annual billionaires list in 2021; as of June 2026, she is estimated to be worth US$1.9 billion. Kardashian has become more politically active by lobbying for prison reform and clemency, and, in 2025, completed a four-year law apprenticeship that allows her to sit for the California Bar Exam, which she did not pass.

Kimberly Noel Kardashian was born on October 21, 1980, in Los Angeles, California, to Robert and Kris Kardashian (née Houghton). She has an older sister, Kourtney, a younger sister, Khloé, and a younger brother, Rob. Their mother is of Scottish and Dutch ancestry, while their father is of Armenian descent. In 1991, their parents divorced and their mother married Caitlyn Jenner, the 1976 Summer Olympics decathlon winner then known as Bruce. As a result of her mother's remarriage, Kim Kardashian acquired stepbrothers Burt, Brandon, and Brody; stepsister Casey; and, later, two half-sisters, Kendall and Kylie Jenner.

Kardashian attended Marymount High School, a Roman Catholic all-girls school in Los Angeles. In 1994, her father represented football player O. J. Simpson during his murder trial. Simpson was Kardashian's godfather. Kardashian's father died in 2003 of cancer. In her teenage years, Kardashian was a close friend of Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton, through whom she first garnered media attention. After she totaled her car at age 16, her father agreed to buy her a new one on the condition that she agree to be responsible for paying all expenses related to any future damages. She subsequently began working at Body, a local clothing store in Encino, an affluent Los Angeles neighborhood, where she worked for four years, assisting in the opening of the Calabasas location. In 2000, after entering into her first marriage, she resigned.

By 2003, Kardashian was working as a personal stylist to the R&B singer and actress Brandy, the sister of Ray J. Later, the siblings' mother (and manager) Sonja Norwood, alleged that in 2004 she had authorized Kardashian to make "one and only one" purchase on her American Express credit card and that nevertheless Kardashian and her sisters Khloé and Kourtney had incurred over $120,000 in unauthorized charges to that card. Norwood also alleged that the bulk of the charges were attributable to purchases made at Kardashian's family-owned boutique in 2006 and 2007, after Kardashian was no longer employed by Norwood's daughter. Norwood further alleged that, at the request of her children, she did not file criminal charges, instead presenting her allegations personally to Kardashian, and that Kardashian apologized and promised to repay the debt. In 2008, when no payments had been made, Norwood filed a lawsuit. Kardashian has denied all these allegations. In 2009, the parties reportedly reached a confidential settlement and the lawsuit was dismissed.

In 2006, Kardashian began working as a stylist for Paris Hilton, a childhood friend of hers. She appeared in several episodes of the reality series The Simple Life and was frequently photographed accompanying Hilton to events and parties. Sheeraz Hasan, a PR strategist working with Hilton, had previously met Kardashian and her mother Kris Jenner in 2005, and stated in a 2020 20/20 television special that Kardashian was "ready to do whatever it takes" to create a successful brand. Rick Mendozza, a freelance photographer on assignment for the tabloid TMZ, remarked in the same interview that, when Kardashian accompanied Hilton to nightclub Hyde, which was a Hollywood hotspot at the time, he continued to get assignments from tabloids to get photographs of Kardashian for the next three years. In 2021, Kardashian said that Hilton "literally gave me a career. And I totally acknowledge that."

In February 2007, a sex tape made by Kardashian and singer Ray J in 2003 was leaked on the internet and gained national attention. Kardashian filed a lawsuit against Vivid Entertainment for distributing the film as Kim Kardashian, Superstar. She dropped the suit 3 months later and settled for a reported US$5 million, giving Vivid permission to market and sell copies of the tape. Sales from the film reportedly generated nearly US$1.5 million in revenue in the first six weeks. Several media outlets later criticized her and her family for using the sex tape's release as a publicity stunt to promote their forthcoming reality show.

In October 2007, Kardashian and her mother Kris Jenner, her step-parent Caitlyn Jenner (then Bruce Jenner), her siblings Kourtney, Khloé, and Rob Kardashian, and half-sisters Kendall and Kylie Jenner, began to appear in the reality television series Keeping Up with the Kardashians. The series proved successful for E!, and led to the creation of a number of spin-offs, including Kourtney and Kim Take New York and Kourtney and Kim Take Miami. The flagship series concluded in June 2021 after 294 episodes.

Kardashian posed in a nude pictorial for the December 2007 issue of Playboy, and appeared on the cover of the November 2010 issue of Romanian Playboy, promoting a pictorial titled "Poezia Unui Fund Bombat" (The Poetry of a Bulging Ass). She made her feature film debut, opposite Carmen Electra, in the disaster film spoof Disaster Movie (2008), in which she appeared as a character named Lisa. In 2008, she was a participant on season seven of Dancing with the Stars, where she was partnered with Mark Ballas. She was the third contestant to be eliminated. In September 2009, Fusion Beauty and Seven Bar Foundation launched "Kiss Away Poverty", with Kardashian as the face of the campaign. For each LipFusion lipgloss sold, US$1 went to the Foundation to fund women entrepreneurs in the United States. In October, she launched her first fragrance, self-titled "Kim Kardashian". That year, she also released a workout DVD series, became a guest host–judge of WrestleMania XXIV on America's Next Top Model, and guest-starred in How I Met Your Mother, Beyond the Break, and CBS's CSI: NY.

Since rising to prominence in the late 2000s, Kardashian has remained a highly polarizing public figure. While critics have often dismissed her as being "famous for being famous", others have credited her with reshaping the nature of modern celebrity and the influence of reality television and social media on fame.

In 2010, Barbara Walters included her in her annual special of the "10 Most Fascinating People". A 2011 Nielsen poll ranked her among the most searched-for personalities on the Internet. In 2015, Time included her on its list of the 100 most influential people in the world, while Forbes has featured her multiple times in its Celebrity 100 list, citing her earnings from television, endorsements, and businesses. She ranked 17th, 13th, and 10th in FHM's 100 Sexiest Women poll in 2008, 2015, and 2016, respectively.

Despite this recognition, she has also faced criticism. A 2012 British survey named her among the "most annoying celebrities", while cultural commentators have accused her of promoting materialism and unrealistic beauty standards.

Much of Kardashian's public persona has been linked to her image as a glamorous socialite, fashion icon, and entrepreneur. She has often been described as embodying the archetype of the "celebutante", a celebrity known primarily for lifestyle, appearances, and media ubiquity rather than artistic output.

Her image has been shaped around carefully curated aesthetics: bodycon dresses, contour makeup, high-fashion collaborations, and viral photoshoots, such as her 2014 nude Paper magazine cover, which popularized the phrase "break the internet".

In 2000, at 19 years old, Kardashian eloped with music producer Damon Thomas. Thomas filed for divorce in 2003. Kardashian later blamed their separation on physical and emotional abuse on his part and said she was high on ecstasy during their wedding ceremony. Before her divorce was finalized, Kardashian began dating singer Ray J.

Kardashian then dated Reggie Bush. Their relationship began after Matt Leinart introduced them at the 2007 ESPY Awards. They split on July 27, 2009 and got back together on September 28, 2009.

During an interview with Caity Weaver of GQ for the July 2016 issue, Kardashian described herself as a Democrat, and declared her support for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

In January 2017, she tweeted a table of statistics that went viral, highlighting statistics that show that gun violence in the United States kills 11,737 people annually while terrorism in the United States kills 14 people annually. In December 2017, the tweet was mentioned by the Royal Statistical Society in the announcement of its "International Statistic of the Year" for 2017. On a trip to Uganda in October 2018, she and her husband met with President Yoweri Museveni. They had a press conference, and Kanye talked about tourism in Uganda. They were criticized for meeting Museveni due to his then-recent crackdown on the opposition and the Ugandan LGBT community.

In April 2019, Vogue reported that Kardashian was studying to pass the bar exam; instead of attending law school, she is reading law. In 2021, Kardashian said she had failed her first-year law exam (the baby bar) for a second time, performing "slightly worse" than her first attempt earlier in the year. In December 2021, she passed the "baby bar" law exam on her fourth attempt. She completed her law reader program in 2025, but in November 2025, announced she failed her first attempt at the bar exam.

In 2020, Kardashian condemned the actions of Azerbaijan in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and expressed her support for Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh. On November 20, 2021, it was reported that Kardashian and the English soccer club Leeds United F.C., with the help of Rabbi Moshe Margertten of the Tzedek Association, had financially helped female Afghan soccer players to make their way safely to England. The women and girls had escaped Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover, but were stranded in Pakistan.

Kardashian has expressed pride in her Armenian and Scottish ancestry. She is not a citizen of either Armenia or the United Kingdom, and does not speak Armenian. She has advocated for the recognition of the Armenian genocide on numerous occasions and encouraged President Barack Obama and the United States government to consider its acknowledgement. In April 2016, Kardashian wrote an article on her website condemning The Wall Street Journal for running an advertisement by FactCheckArmenia.com denying the Armenian genocide. In April 2021, Kardashian wrote a letter to President Joe Biden thanking him for officially recognizing the Armenian genocide and becoming the first United States president ever to do so.