Kim Kardashian may be a household name today, but where would she be without her childhood
BFF, Paris Hilton?
When it comes to the “famous for being famous” lifestyle, Hilton was the real paparazzi pioneer.
Does Kardashian see it the same way?
Keep watching for every twist and turn in this pair’s lifelong friendship.
When we say that Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton go way back, we mean way back.
The pair first met in preschool, so their decades-long friendship started when they
were small.
Both girls grew up in Los Angeles and had childhoods that were mostly sheltered and
uneventful.
"Moving to New York at 15, I was very young and very sheltered from living in Los Angeles.
I had never been to a party."
Kardashian grew up in Beverly Hills with her mother Kris Jenner, and her father Robert
Kardashian.
Their home was obviously a deeply significant place for the whole family because, in October
2020, Kim rented it for the day to celebrate her mom's birthday.
She revealed on Instagram,
"I rented our childhood home.
All of our memories live here especially with our dad.
It’s where each Kardashian child was born and made us who we are.
[...] This was the most special, nostalgic day of my life and we felt my dad’s presence
enjoying this day with us!"
Both women had no way of knowing what was in store for them, and the level of stardom
they've had since is a long way from the sheltered childhoods they both had in California.
"We’ve been friends since we were like two years old."
While they knew each other as kids, Kim Kardashian's relationship with Paris Hilton was first publicly
documented on Hilton's reality show, "The Simple Life."
The show followed Hilton and Nicole Richie as they lived without the luxuries of their
Beverly Hills homes.
It was through this show that the world first met Kardashian, and it gave her the chance
to try out reality TV.
Kardashian was often seen working in Hilton's closet on "The Simple Life."
As a result, people often dubbed Kardashian as Hilton's personal assistant in the early
days.
However, Kardashian clarified what her role was in an interview with Recode in 2014, saying,
"I was not her assistant, but I had an eBay closet organizing company and she was one
of my clients."
"Go to my clients’ homes and I help them clean out their closets."
Interestingly, sister Khloe Kardashian followed a similar path.
On the podcast "Emergency Contact" in October 2020, Khloe explained,
"I was Nicole Richie's assistant.
[...] I went to school with her.
She was one of my best friends growing up and so we were really, really close."
Obviously for both Kardashian sisters, these early jobs led to big things.
Of all the things to have in common, Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton both know what it's like
to have intimate videos leaked.
Understandably, the experience was violating for both women.
"It was like being electronically raped."
Hilton's ex, Rick Salomon, leaked their tape in 2004, after recording the video in 2001.
Hilton spoke about the harrowing experience on Vanity Fair's podcast, "Inside the Hive,"
saying,
"That will always be something that will hurt me for the rest of my life [...] People were
so mean about it to me.
The way that I was spoken about on nightly talk shows and the media [...] I would be
in tears every single day, I didn't want to leave my house, didn't want to show my face.
I felt like my life was over."
"Just felt so betrayed.
This was not some random guy, this was someone I was with for a few years."
Kardashian's tape with Ray J leaked in 2007.
Addressing accusations that she used it to make money or to get famous, Kardashian told
Harper's Bazaar in 2011,
"I never made a business off of the tape.
I made a business off my family and our TV show.
Before the tape came out, we were in the works to do our TV show, but people don't know that."
"I wasn't hanging out with Paris on a daily basis at the time hers came out, it was after."
Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton's friendship reached a new level in 2006, when the two
women were photographed going out together.
Hilton knew the game thanks to her teenage years in New York City with her sister, Nicky
Hilton.
"Became the Hilton sisters, and started this whole phenomenon and created a new celebrity
genre."
Kardashian understood that there was a strategy to getting publicity.
As she told Rolling Stone of her friendship with Hilton,
"We knew exactly where to go, where to be seen, how to have something written about
you.
All you had to do is go to this restaurant, or this party, talk about whatever you want
to talk about, and it would be in the paper the next day."
Hilton's manager from that era, Jason Moore, told ABC,
"Ultimately, [the goal was] [...] to have people say 'Paris' and they thought of her
and not the city.
So how could I make somebody's brain [...] start thinking of her?"
The two became famous before the rise of social media, but they seemed to know how to manage
stardom.
Media strategist Sheeraz Hasan told ABC,
"When you look at someone like Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton you have people who understand
the game of paparazzi."
But the partying was also a blast, as Kardashian told Harper's Bazaar,
"We had so much fun.
I had never traveled the world like that.
It was so neat, all the things we did.
I think I learned a lot from her."
Things took a rocky turn for Paris Hilton in September 2006.
She was arrested after leaving In-N-Out Burger on suspicion of a DUI.
In January 2007, Paris was sentenced to three years' probation for reckless driving, and
she also had to pay a $1,500 fine and attend classes regarding alcohol education.
However, in February 2007, Hilton was pulled over for speeding, and problems arose when
it became apparent that she was driving with a suspended license.
As a result, the socialite received a 45 day jail sentence at the Century Regional Detention
Facility in the city of Lynwood, in Los Angeles County.
In response to the news, Kim Kardashian offered her support to Hilton.
When praised by Hollywood.TV for standing by her friend, she responded with ease, saying,
"Of course.
[...] You have to support people that you love."
But their friendship seemingly cooled at this point.
In her post-jail interview with Larry King on CNN, Hilton cryptically said,
"I've gotten rid of a lot of people.
[...] I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but they know who they are."
In the midst of all of this, Kardashian's sex tape got leaked and it seemed like the
perfect chance to get some guidance from Hilton, but this didn't happen.
The SKIMS founder told Rolling Stone,
"We didn't really talk about it.
I probably would have thought, 'Oh, my gosh, let me give her advice,' but we had no communication.
[...] But our friendship had fizzled before that."
While Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton were on the outs, a lot was happening in Kardashian's
world.
The first episode of "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" aired on October 14, 2007.
Kim was 27 when the show came out, with Kris Jenner and Ryan Seacrest strategizing the
show's premise.
Jenner and Seacrest were heavily influenced by the success of MTV's reality show "The
Osbournes."
It would seem that Hilton was the guide for how to get paparazzi attention, while the
Osbourne family inspired the Kardashians' incredibly popular reality show.
Unfortunately, there was already trouble in paradise for Hilton and Kardashian.
According to In Touch, in 2008 Hilton responded to Kardashian's growing fame, and her famous
butt, by saying,
"It's disgusting.
[...] It reminds me of cottage cheese inside of a big trash bag."
Later, Hilton contacted In Touch to say that she was sorry, explaining,
"I was just joking around and I made a stupid joke.
I felt really bad afterward, so I contacted Kim and apologized.
It was a silly thing to say.
Kim's hot!"
Kardashian accepted the apology graciously, and according to TMZ, she responded by saying,
"Paris and I have been friends since we were kids and I'm glad she made the effort to say
she's sorry."
At this point, Kardashian was already well on her way to surpass Hilton as the ultimate
It girl.
As Kim Kardashian's career was blowing up, she and Paris Hilton went completely silent.
Kardashian told Harper's Bazaar in 2011,
"We don't really talk.
As I always say, everyone comes into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.
And she was in my life for a long time."
Kardashian added,
"There comes a point in life where you just grow apart and you realize you're not as similar
as you thought.
And I never run into her anywhere.
Isn't that so weird?"
For two friends who were tied at the hip, it was a shocking change.
But Kardashian was spending more time with her family, and in this era, paparazzi photos
usually featured her with her sisters.
Culturally, Kardashian was dominating Hilton.
As ScreenRant reported, by October 2007, Kardashian's name was more searched on Google than Hilton's,
and it has remained this way ever since.
Tabloids were still hard on Kardashian, but she managed to stay away from the kind of
press that plagued Hilton, like DUIs and jail time.
As she told Rolling Stone,
"I was never drinking…
I think that saved me a lot."
Hilton was still in the lead financially for several years, though.
Forbes pointed out that even in 2015, Hilton still had the higher net worth, thanks to
product endorsements and her fragrance line.
Eventually though, Kardashian would go on to dominate in that arena as well.
Between Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian, who gets to take credit for originating the selfie?
There seems to be a little rivalry between the two reality stars for making popular the
most ubiquitous photo style on social media.
Speaking to W, Hilton staked her claim, saying,
"If a beeper had a camera, I would have taken a selfie with it.
I think I have a selfie from when I was a little kid, like on a disposable camera."
The New York Times pushed back against this, however, saying that other celebs like Madonna
had already pioneered the selfie.
But when it comes to Hilton or Kardashian, it might be fair to say that Hilton walked
so that Kardashian could run.
After all, Kardashian literally published a book of selfie photography called "Selfish"
in 2015.
Now, Kardashian is so invested in that style of photography that she's offered endless
advice over the years.
She told E!,
"There's nothing worse than a really bad selfie angle.
I went to a restaurant the other day, and everyone was asking for a photo, but their
angles were so bad.
I just had to start taking their cameras and doing it myself, so I could get the right
angle."
Happily, Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton decided to reconcile, and the rest of the world found
out through social media, of course.
On August 3, 2014, Kardashian posted a photo on Instagram of the two of them laughing,
and her caption revealed,
"Reminiscing about the 1st time we went to Ibiza in 2006!
@parishilton it was so good to see you & catch up!!"
For Hilton's birthday in 2015, Kardashian posted another Ibiza throwback with the caption,
"Found this pic while unpacking!
It's from 2006 in Ibiza.
Happy belated birthday @parishilton"
Hilton jumped on Twitter in 2017 to post more Ibiza throwback photos.
The cheerful back and forth between the two reality stars made it clear to everyone else
that the friendship had finally been patched up.
"At the end of the day, life is about being happy."
One thing that Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton have in common is their drive.
Kardashian told Recode in 2014,
"I pride myself [on] my work ethic.
[...] I work really hard.
I think that sometimes when people hear that I might have gotten success off of a reality
show, they take that as a negative."
Hilton had a similar message about her own ambition and the negative stigmas she's constantly
combatting.
As she explained to Glamour in 2015,
"People don't know about my work ethic.
They think I'm just a trust fund kid, but I'm down to earth and I've worked hard for
everything.
I had a certain persona on 'The Simple Life,' but I was young and a lot of that was tongue-in-cheek.
I'm not just a dumb blonde — I wouldn't have got this far if I was."
Both Kardashian and Hilton have created brands while working in reality TV, and they both
came from well-off families.
As a result, they have had to fight against a certain cultural assumption that everything
was handed to them.
They've also faced speculation that their sex tapes were conveniently leaked to promote
their shows.
However, Hilton offered considerable praise for Kardashian on this topic, telling Glamour,
"She's always had a great work ethic like me and she's always been determined.
And that's what it's all about.
I'm so proud of her.
When she's at home, she's very normal like anyone else with a glamorous life."
It was obvious that Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian were on great terms again when Hilton enlisted
Kardashian to appear in a new music video.
In fact, the song itself seems to be about Kardashian, and is aptly titled "Best Friend's
Ass."
Hilton created the single alongside Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike.
The music video's setting is a club, offering a nice throwback to Hilton and Kardashian's
early party days.
The lyrics make it clear that the focus is on friendship and not men, which is a nice
touch.
"I definitely think it would be a crime to not have the most infamous ass in the world
in this video."
Fans were all over the project and loved seeing the two friends united again.
One fan commented on YouTube,
"Anything they do, I love to watch, especially on YouTube.
I feel like I need more Paris in my life though.
Paris and Kim are beautiful, sexy and smart."
Others couldn't help but acknowledge a little rivalry, with one writing,
"2000 when Paris was more popular, 2019 when Kim is the most popular."
The real appeal of the music video was seeing Hilton and Kardashian together again.
Kim Kardashian knows where credit is due and she has spoken many times about how much Paris
Hilton helped her career.
On an episode of "Keeping Up With the Kardashians," Kim spoke with sister Khloe Kardashian about
appearing in Hilton's "Best Friend's Ass" music video.
While on the topic, they spoke about Hilton and what she did to help the Kardashian family.
Kim joked that her only rule was that she didn't want to dance in the video, but besides
that, she'd do anything for her friend.
"I really would want to do anything for her.
She literally gave me a career."
Khloe praised Kim and pointed out that other people might be reluctant to hand credit to
someone else for their success.
Kim listed her wildly busy schedule and said,
"I would drop it for her because that's important to me to be loyal to people."
In response to this humble acknowledgment, Hilton had only good things to say about her
friend.
On the red carpet, an interviewer from Entertainment Tonight asked Hilton how she felt about Kardashian
saying she was responsible for her success.
Hilton had only praise for Jim and the rest of the Kardashian clan.
"I love her and I'm so proud of her and her whole family.
They are just girl bosses killing it."
Kardashian and Hilton have obviously moved past any rivalry.
Sometimes it takes falling out of touch to realize how much a friendship means.
As the years have gone by, Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton appear, by all accounts,
to be better friends than they ever were.
Some of this stability in the friendship could be due to the fact that they are both media
moguls and have each built impressive empires.
They're certainly on much more equal footing now than in the early days when Kardashian
was working for Hilton.
In 2018, Hilton adorably dressed up as Kardashian to promote Kanye West's looks for Season 6
of his brand, Yeezy.
Hilton even sported Kardashian's then-frosty blonde hair.
Kardashian was all over the dupe and posted photos of her BFF on Twitter, calling Hilton
the "OG."
Hilton was obviously all about promoting Kardashian and West's brands.
In October 2020, she shared a video to her YouTube channel of a shoot she did for Kardashian's
clothing brand, Skims.
"It's going to be an early 2000s vibe.
I'm so excited to see all the looks."
They sported velour tracksuits and even used flip phones as props, so it was a major throwback
moment.
Kardashian gave back in the video too, by telling fans to watch Hilton's documentary,
"This is Paris."
Now, Hilton and Kardashian are using their platforms to build each other up.
Paris Hilton married Carter Reum in Bel Air, California in November 2021.
True to form, Kim Kardashian was a huge help to Hilton on the big day.
An insider told E!,
"Kim had a sweet pep talk with Paris and helped her with her dress."
In a real nostalgic turn, Nicole Richie was also a guest.
Another source told E! that Kardashian and Richie were visibly happy to reconnect and
were spotted hugging.
Meanwhile, Paris' sister Nicky Hilton revealed that Kardashian wanted to come away from the
wedding with a specific souvenir.
"It's funny.
At the wedding, Kim joked, 'I'm going to catch that bouquet.'"
And when Paris spoke on "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen," she seemed elated that
her old friend had made it to her nuptials.
"And it meant so much to me that she was there.
She looked stunning and it was a fun night."
When Kardashian split from Kanye West, Hilton was happy to see her friend find love with
Pete Davidson.
"I'm so happy to see her happy.
She looks so beautiful and smiling and I think they're just so cute together."
Hilton even went on to gush about Davidson.
"Funny guys are awesome, they always make you laugh and put you in a good mood.
It's just good vibes, it's really cute."
Both friends have given each other their blessings when it comes to their new romances.
And both have seen it all, from navigating paparazzi, rising to fame, and building successful
business empires.
Haters expected them to fail, but Hilton and Kardashian have done nothing but deliver.
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