Kim Kardashian has revealed that in the years before her global fame, she was so determined to become a celebrity that she deliberately manipulated paparazzi, including staging a fake encounter involving Britney Spears to get media attention.
The billionaire reality star said that between 2006 and 2009, when Keeping Up with the Kardashians was just beginning, fame was her singular obsession. Speaking on her sister’s podcast Khloé in Wonder Land last Wednesday, Kardashian admitted, "[Fame] is all I wanted. I lived for it."
She described one incident in New York City involving her longtime friend Jonathan Cheban, who had discovered which hotel Britney Spears was staying at. Kardashian said they managed to get a ride to the hotel in a Rolls-Royce Phantom after a wealthy stranger offered them a lift. "We were like, "We'll sit in the back." So, it looks like we got out with a driver at this hotel. Paparazzi everywhere waiting for Britney at her hotel," the Skims CCO and founding partner explained.
When they arrived, photographers immediately swarmed them. "We got out and they were like, "Kim, Kim, Kim, are you here to visit Britney?" and Jonathan [mutters], "Keep your head down and just, like, shut up.""
Once inside the building, panic set in. Kardashian admitted they had no connection to the hotel or Spears and hid in a phone booth in the lobby for roughly 20 minutes because they "didn't know anyone at this hotel."
When they finally emerged, the photographers were still there. "We come out [of the hotel], and they're like: 'Kim, how was Britney? Kim, how was Britney?'" she recalled.
To complete the illusion, they avoided being photographed entering the Rolls-Royce again. "We took a cab, I think, because this Rolls-Royce dropped us off, but they weren't going to take pictures of us, like, getting in. So, we totally scammed the system. And it was like on every [magazine] cover. And we thought we were killing it."
Kardashian remains close friends with Cheban, whom she met "by chance" at a birthday party in 2009. He most recently appeared in the March 6 episode of The Kardashians. In 2019, Kardashian’s third ex-husband Kanye "Ye" West gave Cheban the nickname Foodgod, which he later made his legal name.
On November 15, Kardashian shared that she and Khloé spent a low-key "Calabasas night" in pajamas with the 44-year-old pop star and her manager Cade Hudson, during which they rolled around on a bed together.
Professionally, Kardashian continues to stack projects. On Monday, Netflix confirmed that production has begun on Eva Longoria’s ensemble comedy The Fifth Wheel, which features Kardashian as a "hot outsider" who disrupts a Las Vegas reunion weekend for former high school best friends.
Her casting also confirms that she will not be retaking the State Bar of California exam scheduled for February 24 to 25. Kardashian learned on November 7 that she failed her previous attempt after not reaching the minimum score of 1,390 out of 2,000 points. The aspiring attorney has previously stated her belief that the 1969 Moon landing was fake.
Kardashian has long said she hoped to follow in the footsteps of her late father, Robert Kardashian, who was part of OJ Simpson’s 1995 murder trial defense "dream team."
Despite overwhelmingly negative reviews, the criminal justice reform advocate will executive produce and reprise her role as divorce attorney Allura Grant in the second season of Ryan Murphy’s legal drama All’s Fair, which centers on an all-female law firm.
Her growing slate of projects also includes producing and starring in season eight of The Kardashians, producing Amazon’s live-action Bratz film for Amazon MGM Studios, producing the Hulu pilot Group Chat starring La La Anthony, starring in Eva Longoria’s Netflix comedy The Fifth Wheel, and leading an Amazon thriller written by Natalie Krinsky.