Kim Kardashian Admits She Used to ‘Lean On’ Kanye West for ‘Validation’
Kim Kardashian is standing on her own two feet. But she wasn’t always so confident. The reality star and entrepreneur used to look to her ex-husband Kanye West to what to do and what not to do in her business, she recently confessed.
Kim Kardashian was ‘forced’ to make decisions on her own after Kanye West divorce
“I leaned on my ex-husband a lot for advice and opinions and validation,” Kardashian says in her new MasterClass, The New Rules of Business: The Ten Kimmandments with Kim Kardashian. “But when that relationship ended and I didn’t have that connection, I was forced to make those decisions by myself and I had to believe I already knew what I liked.
“It took that cutoff for me to be like, ‘Oh, I have no other choice, I have to do it on my own,’” she adds.
Developing that kind of confidence is just one lesson the SKIMS founder learned as she built her business. While she’s found her voice in the years since she and West split, that doesn’t mean she doesn’t listen to those around her. But now, The Kardashians star is more likely to turn to younger members of her family for guidance.
“My kids clue me in a lot — I drive them to school every day, so they control the radio and the playlists when we’re driving, so I get to hear music I’ve never heard before,” she says. “I hear all the trends, what they’re talking about. I’d say the carpool rides are gold.”
‘The Kardashians’ star has ‘always been in on the joke’
The All’s Fair cast member also explains that she knows exactly what she’s doing when she launches viral products like butt-pad shapewear and thongs with faux pubic hair.
“We definitely have really fun ideas, and this is a strategy that you can use too,” she says. “You can experiment with a new product in a limited release and get your customer’s attention. I think I’ve always been that way, right? I’ve always been in on the joke, just showing we’re in on it too. Like butt-pad shapewear? Yeah, funny. Amazing.”
Kardashian previously claimed to be surprised that the “ultimate bush” thongs generated so much buzz. (While they were widely mocked online, the thongs quickly sold out.)
“It was just a fun, silly idea … I’m shocked it got so much attention,” she told E! News in October, adding that she cribbed the idea from designer John Galliano. “We’ve been laughing and talking about it all day long.”
The New Rules of Business: The Ten Kimmandments with Kim Kardashian is now available on MasterClass.
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