Kim Kardashian
Keeping up with the Kardashians…
1980 – Defense attorney Robert Kardashian and wife, Kris Houghton, welcome their second child, Kimberly Noel, to their posh L.A. lifestyle. The growing brood already includes one-year-old Kourtney and will add Khloe in 1984 and Robert Jr. in 1987. By pre-school, Kim is palling around with Paris Hilton, and by 1994, her father is in the media spotlight when he houses and later defends O.J. Simpson following the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
1990 – After her parent’s divorce – her mother remarries Olympian Bruce Jenner in 1991 – Kardashian hits puberty and is ashamed of her growing body. “I used to say my prayers before bed and pray I would stop developing,” she tells Playboy. With time, though, Kardashian grows confidence, even defending the authenticity of her curves: “I always laugh when it says on the Internet that I have fake boobs or butt implants or injected lips, because it’s so not true.”
2000 - Kardashian, 20, marries music producer Damon Thomas (right), 30, who works with the likes of Pink and Faith Evans. But death doesn’t do them part, as Kardashian and Thomas endure a messy divorce in 2004. According to PEOPLE, Thomas calls Kardashian a “compulsive shopper.”
2004 – After singer Brandy appears on a worst-dressed list, Kardashian is hired as her personal stylist. The stint parlays into a full-time business for Kardashian as a stylist and personal shopper to stars like Lindsay Lohan. Around this time, she begins dating Brandy’s brother, R&B singer Ray J. In 2006, business is booming and, with sisters Khloe and Kourtney, Kardashian opens Dash, a boutique in Calabasas, Calif. But in 2008, Brandy and Ray J’s mother, Sonja Norwood, sues Kardashian and her siblings, alleging that they made more than more than $120,000 in unauthorized charges on an American Express card.
2007 – While rumors of a sex tape involving Kardashian and ex-boyfriend, Ray J, swirl, Kardashian denies any such tape exists. “There is no amount of money that could ever convince me to release any tape, even if I had one,” she tells Complex. But the tape eventually surfaces on the Internet, and Kardashian sues Vivid Entertainment to suppress its distribution, saying “it would humiliate me and ruin my family.” By April, Kardashian settles with Vivid to distribute the tape.
Kardashian gets her own E! reality series, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, which documents her career and family life, with sisters Kourtney and Khloe, momager Kris, and stepdad Bruce Jenner. The first season features Kim debating whether or not to pose for Playboy. “At the heart of this series – despite the cat fights and endless sarcasm – is a family that truly loves and supports one another,” Ryan Seacrest, executive producer of the series, tells Daily Variety.
Kardashian appears on the cover of Playboy – and bares all inside. “Of course you’re nervous and want more time to work out. But I’m proud to show people who I am,” she tells Men’s Fitness about the shoot. “You always see the typical skinny models and I’m not that and I’m proud not to be that.” In 2008, she inks a deal to be the latest face of Bongo Jeans.
2008 – Kardashian appears as a contestant on the seventh season of Dancing with the Stars. “I was really happy when I saw it was Mark!” she blogs about partner Mark Ballas. “We can actually dance together and that is really, really exciting.” Kardashian is eliminated on the fifth anniversary of her father’s death. “I just know he’s really happy and watching over me and I made him proud,” she says before rushing to her family and breaking down into tears.
2009 - The third season of Keeping Up with the Kardashians returns to E! Upping the ante and the celeb drama, Kim gets LASIK surgery before dancing with the Pussycat Dolls, Khloe poses nude for PETA after dealing with weight issues, and Kourtney hires her mom Kris to manage her career in addition to Kim’s.
