Kim Kardashian

Kimberly Noel Kardashian (born October 21, 1980) is an American media personality, socialite, and businesswoman. She and her family began to appear on the E! reality television series Keeping Up with the Kardashians after Kim gained media attention following the release of a sex tape in 2007. The show aired until 2021, and its success led to the formation of several spin-offs and a successor show, Hulu's The Kardashians (2022–present).

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^[update]. Following the closure of her cosmetics and fragrance brands, 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), and the twelfth season of the anthology horror series American Horror Story (2023–2024).

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 seventh-most-followed individual on Instagram and the eleventh-most-followed individual on Twitter. Both critics and admirers have described Kardashian as exemplifying the notion of being famous for being famous. She became a billionaire in 2021, and is estimated by Forbes to be worth US$1.7 billion as of May 2025^[update]. Kardashian has become more politically active by lobbying for prison reform and clemency, and, as of 2019^[update], is under a four-year law apprenticeship supervised by the legal nonprofit Cut50.

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 Bruce Jenner, the 1976 Summer Olympics decathlon winner. 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, California, 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.