Kim Kardashian wasn’t always Kim Kardashian.
The 45-year-old fashion icon has revealed that she changed her name shortly before her and her family’s first reality TV show, “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” premiered back in 2007.
“I used to always go by Kimberly, until we signed on to do the reality show,” the SKIMS founder, whose legal name is Kimberly Noel Kardashian, told Time in an interview published Thursday.
“When I looked at my chyron, Kimberly Kardashian, I said, ‘I think that’s so long for people to say. Let’s just shorten it to Kim,’” she continued. “It’s so weird, because all my friends from high school and growing up, and my dad, everyone called me Kimberly.”
However, that was not the only revelation the “All’s Fair” star shared, because Kim also claimed that she was the one who convinced her family to sign on for “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” almost 20 years ago.
“I mean, the whole reason we wanted to start our show was to bring attention to our DASH store – at least that’s how I was able to get my sisters to sign on,” she explained.
“I let them know that it’ll bring such great promotion to our store,” she added. “And they were in once they heard that.”
“Keeping Up With the Kardashians” gave fans an inside look at the Kardashian family from its premiere in 2007 until its conclusion in 2021. “The Kardashians,” a continuation of its predecessor, launched on Hulu in 2022.
The hit reality show followed Kim, her momager Kris Jenner, sisters Kourtney, Khloe, Kendall and Kylie, and brother Rob for 20 seasons and ultimately launched them each into global superstardom.
But according to Kim, she is the mastermind behind the family’s reality TV empire.
“I think I was the one who convinced everyone for sure. I really wanted it,” Kim told Time. “I really wanted to do a reality show since the day MTV’s ‘The Real World’ came out, and I watched it with my best friend.”
“I looked at her and I told her, ‘That’s what I’m going to do.’ And she said, ‘I’ll be your manager.’ I think we were 11,” the mom of four added.
The second-born Kardashian sibling made other headlines this week after opening up about her 2016 Paris robbery during the latest episode of “The Kardashians.”
Kim traveled to Paris to testify in court in the episode, which came nearly 10 years after she was robbed at gunpoint by masked men in the French capital.
Although the SKKN founder admitted that she was happy the entire ordeal was finally over, she accused her ex-husband, Kanye West, of perpetuating conspiracies that she faked the robbery.
“My ex-husband had said, ‘And you faked your robbery for a TV show,’ and had said that in front of all these people,” Kim said while fighting back tears. “That was a knife to my heart.”
“Just to think that someone wouldn’t believe you that’s so close to you, that should know you, that should know how much that affected your life, it just really bothered me,” she shared. “You don’t know who I am.”
The SKKY Partners co-founder and West, 48, split in 2021 and divorced one year later. They welcomed four kids during their eight-year marriage: North, 12, Saint, 9, Chicago, 7, and Psalm, 6.
