Kim Kardashian
American media personality, businesswoman, model, actress and entrepreneur whose personal brand spans entertainment, beauty, shapewear, skincare and digital products.
Last updated October 14, 2026
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Overview
Kimberly Noel Kardashian is an American media personality, businesswoman, model, actress and entrepreneur. Her public career developed from Los Angeles social circles and celebrity styling into a broad personal brand built through television, social media, licensing, consumer products and advocacy. She first attracted widespread attention in the mid-2000s through her association with Paris Hilton and through extensive tabloid coverage. In 2007, the unauthorized distribution of a private recording involving Kardashian and singer Ray J generated national attention. Kardashian pursued legal action against the distributor and later reached a settlement that permitted commercial distribution. The episode became a defining, and controversial, early chapter in her media profile. Later in 2007, Kardashian and members of her family began appearing on E!'s reality series Keeping Up with the Kardashians. The program ran for fourteen years and became the central platform for the Kardashian-Jenner family's entertainment businesses, relationships and product launches. It generated spin-offs including Kourtney and Kim Take New York and Kourtney and Kim Take Miami. After the original series ended in 2021, Kardashian and her family moved to Hulu with The Kardashians, which premiered in 2022 and continued the family's reality-television format for a streaming audience. Kardashian expanded beyond television into fashion, beauty, fragrances, publishing, mobile entertainment and endorsements. She co-owned the Dash boutique chain with her sisters, which operated from 2006 to 2018. Her early licensed products included fragrances, workout videos, books, a photo collection and the Kimoji emoji application. Her 2014 mobile game Kim Kardashian: Hollywood used a free-to-play model and became a substantial commercial success. Her social-media reach also made her a highly sought-after advertising personality, although sponsored-product promotion has sometimes attracted criticism concerning disclosure and product claims. In 2017, Kardashian launched KKW Beauty and KKW Fragrance. KKW Beauty became known for complexion products, contouring products, cosmetics collaborations and direct-to-consumer online sales. The beauty business was reported to have achieved a valuation exceeding one billion dollars in 2021. Both KKW-branded businesses ceased operating under those names by 2022. In 2019, Kardashian founded Skims, a shapewear, underwear, loungewear and apparel company. Skims broadened the traditional foundation-garment category through inclusive sizing, neutral color ranges, body-conscious marketing and frequent product drops. The company was reported to have reached a valuation above four billion dollars in 2023, although it remains privately held. Kardashian launched the skincare brand SKKN by Kim in 2022, presenting it as a premium, direct-to-consumer skincare business. Her commercial activities are supported by a large online following and a highly recognizable visual identity centered on beauty, body styling, celebrity access and personal storytelling. She has also maintained an acting career, with credits including Disaster Movie, Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor, the PAW Patrol films and the television series American Horror Story: Delicate. She became involved with the legal-drama series All's Fair, reported as a 2025-present project. Beyond entertainment and commerce, Kardashian has become increasingly active in criminal-justice reform. She has advocated for prison reform and clemency cases, worked with lawyers and activists, and pursued legal education through a California apprenticeship route. She completed the required apprenticeship period and sat for the California Bar Examination, but did not pass that examination. Her public profile remains unusually broad: she functions simultaneously as an entertainment personality, social-media publisher, product founder, licensing figure and campaigner. Supporters view her as an effective modern brand builder, while critics argue that her prominence illustrates celebrity culture and fame detached from conventional artistic credentials.
History
Kim Kardashian was born in Los Angeles in 1980 to Robert Kardashian, a lawyer, and Kris Jenner. Her family background connected her to the entertainment, legal and social worlds of Southern California. Her father later became widely known for representing O. J. Simpson during the 1994 murder trial. Following her parents' divorce, Kris Jenner married Olympic decathlon champion Caitlyn Jenner, expanding the Kardashian family through step- and half-siblings. Kardashian worked in retail during her teenage years and later became a stylist. Her early celebrity exposure was linked to Paris Hilton, whom she accompanied to events and for whom she performed styling work. Tabloid photography and reality-media coverage gradually made Kardashian a recognizable personality before she had an established television career. The 2007 distribution of a private recording involving Kardashian marked a major inflection point in her public visibility. She sued the distributor and settled several months later. In the same year, Keeping Up with the Kardashians premiered on E!. The series transformed Kardashian and her relatives into a durable entertainment franchise. Its success supported multiple spin-offs, endorsements, fashion businesses and product launches. The original series ended in 2021 after a long run, and the family returned to unscripted television with Hulu's The Kardashians in 2022. Kardashian's early expansion included modeling, acting, fragrances, publishing and digital media. She appeared in films and television programs, competed on Dancing with the Stars, released a self-titled fragrance and participated in various commercial endorsements. Her 2014 mobile game Kim Kardashian: Hollywood turned her celebrity persona into an interactive progression game and became one of the best-known examples of a celebrity-branded mobile product. The 2014 Paper magazine cover featuring Kardashian also produced an unusually large online response and reinforced her influence over internet culture. In 2015, she published Selfish, a book based on self-portraits, and released Kimoji, an emoji application built around her public image. The next phase focused on consumer brands. Kardashian launched KKW Beauty and KKW Fragrance in 2017, using online product releases, social-media promotion and highly recognizable packaging and product categories. KKW Beauty was particularly associated with contouring and complexion products, reflecting Kardashian's influence on contemporary makeup trends. Both KKW businesses were discontinued or restructured by 2022. In 2019, Kardashian founded Skims. The company began with shapewear and foundation garments but expanded into underwear, loungewear and apparel. Skims' brand system emphasized a wide range of sizes, color families designed to reflect different skin tones, body-focused styling and rapid digital product launches. Its reported private valuation exceeded four billion dollars in 2023, although valuation figures are subject to financing terms and are not equivalent to public-market capitalization. Kardashian launched SKKN by Kim in 2022, returning to the beauty sector through skincare. Her entertainment work continued alongside commerce, including appearances in the PAW Patrol films, American Horror Story: Delicate and the planned legal drama All's Fair. She also became more publicly engaged in criminal-justice reform, supporting clemency and prison-reform efforts. Her legal apprenticeship and bar-examination attempt represented a parallel public identity centered on law and advocacy rather than entertainment alone. Kardashian's career illustrates the development of the influencer-founded enterprise. Her businesses rely on personal recognition, direct communication with followers, limited or staged product releases, collaborations and media attention. The model has generated substantial commercial reach but has also drawn criticism over celebrity culture, advertising practices, body ideals and the commercialization of personal life. Regardless of those debates, Kardashian remains an internationally prominent figure whose name operates across entertainment, beauty, fashion, digital media and activism.
- 2023
Skims reported to exceed four-billion-dollar valuation
[4]Reports valued privately held Skims at more than four billion dollars.
- 2022
SKKN by Kim launches
[1]Kardashian introduced a skincare line under the SKKN by Kim name.
- 2021
KKW Beauty reported to exceed one-billion-dollar valuation
[1]Media reports placed the value of KKW Beauty above one billion dollars.
- 2019
Skims founded
[4]Kardashian established the shapewear and apparel company Skims.
- 2017
KKW Beauty and KKW Fragrance founded
[1]Kardashian expanded into cosmetics and fragrance under the KKW name.
- 2015
Selfish and Kimoji released
[1]Kardashian published the photo book Selfish and released the Kimoji emoji application.
- 2014
Kim Kardashian: Hollywood launches
[6]The celebrity-themed mobile game launched for iOS and Android and became a major commercial success.
- 2008
Feature-film debut
[1]Kardashian made her feature-film debut in the comedy Disaster Movie.
- 2007
Keeping Up with the Kardashians premieres
[2]The E! reality series introduced Kardashian and her family to a mass television audience.
- 2006
Dash boutique opens
[1]Kim Kardashian and her sisters opened Dash, a fashion boutique business that later operated at multiple locations before closing in 2018.
Products and positioning
A celebrity-led, digitally native personal brand combining entertainment visibility, aspirational beauty, body-inclusive apparel, direct-to-consumer commerce and social-impact advocacy.
Shapewear, underwear and apparel · 2019
Skims
Founded in 2019, Skims began with shapewear and foundation garments and developed into a broader apparel business covering underwear, loungewear, basics and other clothing. Its proposition combines body-conscious construction with broad sizing and a spectrum of neutral colors. The company uses direct-to-consumer online commerce, frequent launches and collaborations to maintain attention and expand beyond traditional shapewear.
Skincare · 2022
SKKN by Kim
SKKN by Kim is Kardashian's skincare brand, launched in 2022. It is positioned as a premium personal-care line associated with a simplified, routine-based approach to skincare and Kardashian's beauty identity. The business extended her earlier involvement in cosmetics while moving the brand emphasis from makeup and fragrance toward facial skincare.
Cosmetics · 2017
KKW Beauty
KKW Beauty was a direct-to-consumer cosmetics company founded by Kardashian in 2017. It became especially associated with contouring, complexion products, lip products and collaborations promoted through Kardashian's social-media channels. Reports placed its valuation above one billion dollars in 2021. The brand ceased operating under the KKW name by 2022.
Fragrance · 2017
KKW Fragrance
KKW Fragrance was a fragrance business founded by Kardashian in 2017. It extended a category in which she had already released several individually branded perfumes and used celebrity-led scent launches, online distribution and visual storytelling. The business operated until 2022 under the KKW name.
Mobile game · 2014
Kim Kardashian: Hollywood
Kim Kardashian: Hollywood is a mobile role-playing and celebrity-progression game released in 2014. Players create a character and pursue increasing fame through events, relationships and virtual purchases. Its free-to-play structure combined a low barrier to download with paid in-game items, turning Kardashian's celebrity narrative into an interactive entertainment product.
Mobile application · 2015
Kimoji
Kimoji was an emoji application released in 2015 for iOS devices. It used recognizable elements of Kardashian's image, expressions and public persona as a downloadable digital product. The application quickly became one of the most prominent celebrity-branded mobile apps of its period.
Controversies
2017
Cryptocurrency promotion criticism
Kardashian's promotion of a cryptocurrency product on social media later became part of regulatory criticism concerning celebrity promotion of financial products and disclosure of promotional relationships.
2007
Distribution of private recording
A private recording involving Kardashian and Ray J was distributed without authorization and became a major source of public attention. Kardashian filed a lawsuit against the distributor and later settled, permitting commercial distribution. Commentators have debated whether the episode was later used as publicity for the family's television launch; Kardashian has disputed that characterization.
Marketing campaigns
- 2009Kiss Away Poverty
United States
Kardashian served as the face of a Fusion Beauty and Seven Bar Foundation campaign linked to LipFusion lip gloss. A portion of each qualifying sale was directed toward programs supporting women entrepreneurs.
Outcome. The campaign connected a celebrity beauty endorsement with a stated women's-enterprise fundraising objective.
Brand decisions
2022
Launch SKKN by KimProduct launchBackground
After her earlier cosmetics and fragrance businesses ceased operating under the KKW names, Kardashian returned to beauty with a skincare-focused proposition.
Action taken
She introduced SKKN by Kim as a premium skincare brand.
Aftermath
The launch repositioned her beauty activity around skincare rather than the earlier KKW makeup and fragrance portfolio.
2022
Move family reality television to HuluStrategyBackground
Keeping Up with the Kardashians concluded in 2021 after a long run on E!.
Action taken
Kardashian and her family launched The Kardashians on Hulu as a new streaming-era continuation of their unscripted television model.
Aftermath
The family retained reality-media distribution while shifting from a traditional cable network to a streaming platform.
2019
Build a dedicated shapewear and apparel companyProduct launchBackground
Kardashian identified an opportunity to extend her influence over body styling and foundation garments into a standalone company.
Action taken
She founded Skims, initially focusing on shapewear and later expanding into underwear, loungewear and apparel.
Aftermath
Skims became her principal fashion business and was reported to have a private valuation above four billion dollars in 2023.
Reported private-company valuation. More than US$4 billion (2023)
2017
Enter cosmetics and fragrance under the KKW nameProduct launchBackground
Kardashian had an established beauty-oriented audience through television, social media and endorsements.
Action taken
She founded KKW Beauty and KKW Fragrance as consumer businesses promoted primarily through digital channels.
Aftermath
The brands expanded her personal identity into owned products, with KKW Beauty later reported to have achieved a valuation above one billion dollars before the name was discontinued.
Sources6 sources
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