Her reality keeps changing
Kim Kardashian West, the TV celeb turned social justice activist, explains new journey.
Kim Kardashian West appears to be winning right now. Following her late May visit to the Oval Office, President Trump granted clemency last week to Alice Marie Johnson, a nonviolent drug offender for whom Kardashian West has been advocating during the last seven months.
The reality TV starturned-philanthropist also celebrated husband Kanye West’s new album release as well as his 41st birthday last Friday. And to top it all off, Kardashian West told The Times that she’s opening her first KKW Beauty pop-up shop on June 20 at Westfield Century City shopping center in Los Angeles.
“I’m so excited,” she said during a phone interview Friday afternoon on her way home to see her children.
So how’s the social media
mogul celebrating? “I’m cooking dinner,” Kardashian West, 37, said, adding: “Me and the kids are cooking dinner. So I’m on my way there now to get started.”
Sounds like a low-key event for someone who appears to live a larger-than-life existence. However, things aren’t what they once were for the TV personality. Having recently shared that shopping doesn’t satisfy her the way it once did, Kardashian West said her perspective changed “when I got robbed, honestly.”
After being held up at gunpoint at a Paris hotel in 2016, Kardashian West said she began to reevaluate her lifestyle and desire for material things.
“You realize, in those moments, that what they’re there for means nothing,” she said. “You would trade it all for your life. So I think after that. … When you get home and you come back to your life and you see all this stuff, you realize that it just doesn’t really mean anything, and it doesn’t really matter. I almost felt uncomfortable wearing things that were super-expensive. I think that’s what really changed in me, honestly.”
As part of her personal growth and evolution, she has turned her attention to being an advocate for criminal justice reform.
“It’s just an amazing feeling to know that you can do something that can really change someone’s life,” she said, while admitting her path to activism was a bit of a fluke.
“I really wasn’t thinking about politics,” she said. “I was on Twitter and I saw something that touched my heart, and I felt like I wanted to do what I could and do the right thing to try to save someone’s life.”
She surprised fans and Washington insiders when she turned up at the White House last month advocating on behalf of Johnson, who spent 21 years behind bars in Alabama. In 1996, Johnson was convicted on eight criminal counts related to a Memphis, Tenn.-based multimillion-dollar cocaine trafficking operation and sentenced in 1997 to life in prison. Kardashian West said she learned about Johnson’s story and was impressed by how Johnson had turned her life around. Then she decided to get involved.
Kardashian West received flak in the media, but her meeting with Trump led to Johnson’s release from prison last Wednesday.
Kardashian West said Johnson’s case has inspired her to become more philanthropic.
“This was such a success, and it made me feel so good to know that we did this,” she said. “It was such a great thing for her, and it’s changed her life. I really do want to stay in this place of continuing” this type of advocacy.
“I spoke to the White House today,” Kardashian West continued. “It’s my understanding that the president is very compassionate about this and is learning more about it and wants to continue to do this. So if I can help in that way, we’re continuing the conversation.”
She said she spoke with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner as recently as Friday about her mission.
“He’s really passionate about prison reform and bringing this subject to the attention of the president,” she said. “I saw a clip where [Trump] mentioned that he wanted to pardon more people and would be seeking advice from different people for that. And so we connected because we, obviously, had just been through that this week.… We’re going to continue to work with organizations that have been fighting this way longer than I have and have really amazing, deserving people that have been in the same situation as Alice. We’re continuing. We’re not stopping. It’s going to be an ongoing conversation.”
Kardashian West has also had a busy month on the home front. Her husband recently released a new album, “Ye,” in which he revealed he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when he was 39.
“I’m proud of him,” she said. “I know that he’s been through a lot and, you know, he feels his best when he’s creating. So I’m happy that it has been so well-received and has been No. 1 everywhere.”
The couple also celebrated West’s collaboration with Kid Cudi on the joint album, “Kids See Ghosts,” during a listening party Thursday night in Santa Clarita. They were surrounded by friends including Courtney Love, Ariana Grande and artist Takashi Murakami.
“It’s so exciting to see him set a goal to release five albums,” Kardashian West said. “One every week produced by other artists and then two for himself. … [It’s nice] to see that goal come to life.”
As for her own ventures, Kardashian West and sisters Kourtney and Khloé recently decided to close their DASH clothing stores after nearly 12 years.
“I really do want to focus on beauty and fragrance for right now,” Kardashian West said of the decision. “We love the stores. That’s our history. That’s where we started. It’s amazing, but we can’t be there every day like we used to be. We love to be involved 100% in the projects that we’re attached to. And we just couldn’t do that. So we thought it was best to close the stores.”
She’s now focused on her successful and often sold-out cosmetic and fragrance line, KKW Beauty, which will celebrate its first anniversary this month.
“I love working with different makeup artists, and I love transforming,” Kardashian West said of focusing on building a beauty brand as opposed to one in fashion. “I’ve always loved makeup. So I thought it was a natural space.”
She said she’d previously “dabbled in the beauty business before but never really on my own terms and never by myself.”
The pop-up will stay open through July 27. Kardashian West said she selected the L.A. location based on nostalgia.
“I grew up right near there,” she said. “I’d always gone to the Century City mall. That was the spot. I remember I got my ears pierced there . ... It was the coolest mall ever. It’s a place that reminds me of my teenage years.”
She noted that she hasn’t ruled out a permanent location in Los Angeles or, potentially, elsewhere.
“I would love to be in stores as well and have my own beauty stores ... [but] I think the first step is starting with the pop-up and seeing the reaction [from consumers].”