‘I was changed by these people’: How Kim Kardashian West found her new calling outside Hollywood
She shocked the world when she revealed she was studying to be a lawyer. Now, Kim Kardashian West opens up about swapping reality TV fame for a more worthy cause.
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When Kim Kardashian West first took to Instagram to tell her 163 million followers about her success in helping to free then prisoner, Alice Mae Johnson, the reaction to her good deed was surprisingly mixed.
Speaking from her luxury home in Hidden Hills, Los Angeles, the reality super star tells News Corp Australia: “I remember one person commenting after I posted about Alice when she got out of jail, ‘Oh, stay in your lane, you can’t be helping people; that’s not what you do!’”
Flaggergasted by the negative response, Kardashian West says: “It was such an ignorant comment and also so ridiculous, because I believe that everyone can help anybody.”
It’s in this spirit the Keeping Up With The Kardashians star, entrepreneur and cultural influencer has added another string to her bow – shining light on law reform in her new documentary series, Kim Kardashian: The Justice Project.
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“I’m very proud to be in a position to really speak out and help people. It’s what I really love to do. And maybe it’s changed my image, but that’s not the focus. I’ve always kept my eyes focused on the people who need the help. I’m not interested in the noise around it.”
The series is inspired by West’s success in advocating for Johnson, who was a first-time, nonviolent drug offender who served over two decades of a life sentence.
It was at the behest of West, who lobbied President Trump to grant clemency to the 64-year-old, with her sentence eventually commuted and her freedom secured two years ago.
While sceptics may believe the ubiquitous star’s legal crusade may be merely a phase, or perhaps even a publicity stunt, Kardashian isn’t fazed by the criticism.
“My heart really opened up after visiting prisons, educating myself, and speaking to many incarcerated people,” she says.
“I was changed by these people. Yes, some of them have done really horrific things, but they’ve completely rehabilitated themselves.”
She sees as much longevity for this TV series as she does for KUWTK, now in season 18.
“There are an infinite number of people who need help,” she says.
“We feature four people every episode, so it could last forever,” with crimes committed including everything from sex trafficking to murder.
She reveals the next prisoner on her ‘save’ list is Chris Young.
“He’s been in jail for 10 years with a life sentence from marijuana, plus a sprinkle of cocaine found in his car that was such a small amount they couldn’t even weigh it.”
She hopes viewers find empathy for the prisoners, and an awareness of the flaws in the US justice system.
“It’s important for viewers to take the time to listen to people’s circumstances and what led them to make the decisions they made. Someone might be at a really low point in their life, but that doesn’t mean we have to throw their life away over a decision that they made multiple decades ago,” she says.
It may also help rehabilitate Kardashian West’s image for many, which has been softened further from vacuous party girl thanks to her role as mother to North, Saint, Chicago and Psalm, and wife to singer Kanye West.
“I’m on the treadmill while the kids are doing their homework from online schooling,” she explains, under lockdown.
With her children ranging in ages from six to 22 months, the challenge has been real, she chuckles.
“We’re taking social distancing seriously and we’re staying in. If anything, it’s a really good family bonding time and we are trying to make the most of it.”
Like many of us, she has also used the time for personal projects. “I’ve organised my whole pantry and cleaned out all of the kids’ closets.”
The COVID-19 crisis has also had a huge impact on the US prison population, cause for concern to Kardashian West.
“They are in real danger. #cut50 (a public policy advocacy group with which she is doing her four-year legal apprenticeship) has been working around the clock, calling every governor, as well as the White House, trying to figure out what to do to help their situation,” she says. “We don’t want them to be forgotten.”
With aspirations to get her lawyer’s license, Kardashian West puts in 20 hours of study a week and will take the bar exam in 2023.
As the daughter of Robert Kardashian, part of O.J. Simpson’s legal defence team during the infamous 1995 murder trial, Kardashian West remains in awe of her late father’s legal career.
“Sometimes when I’ve been studying late at night and then have to get up early, I’ve wondered how he did it, especially with four kids. It would have been so exciting to talk to him about all of this,” she says. “I know he’d be proud.”
Inheriting her business savvy from her mother, Kris Jenner, Kardashian West also juggles multimillion-dollar endorsement deals and has her own branded lines in perfume, beauty, self-tanning, and clothing [her estimated net worth is reportedly US$350 million].
A skilled multitasker, she says, “I don’t get a lot of sleep, and especially with the kids being homeschooled, so if I need to make a phone call, I have to sneak out to my backyard, because if the kids see mum, they don’t really let me work.”
With coronavirus forcing the shutdown of many industries, the Kardashian clan have not been immune, she says.
“We just closed our fulfilment centre for KKW Beauty. I think right now our priority is to make sure everyone is safe.”
* Kim Kardashian West: The Justice Project, premieres Monday, April 6 on Hayu, streams Tuesday, April 7 on Fetch.
* Keeping Up With The Kardashians airs at 10am and 7.30pm, Friday, Foxtel’s E! and streams on hayu.