Kim Kardashian was astonished that everyone was upset with her for stating people should “fucking ass up and work.”
Kim addressed the practically immediate response she received for her now-viral comments about the plebeian’s work ethic in the latest episode of The Kardashians, stating she was “blindsided” by the general public’s venom.
During a taped conversation, which also included sisters Khloé and Kourtney Kardashian, as well as mom Kris Jenner, the SKIMS creator offered some useful advice to aspiring female company entrepreneurs hoping to amass the same type of fortune as their family.
“Get your fucking ass up and work,” Kim famously said. “It seems like nobody wants to work these days. You have to surround yourself with people that want to work.”
Though Kim has now claimed that the phrase was “taken out of context,” it hasn’t prevented some from criticizing her seemingly archaic “work hard, play hard” approach. It also drew criticism from former employees, who accused the Kardashian-Jenner dynasty of establishing a gruelling work environment in exchange for meager wages.
Kim reflects on the outpouring of vitriol sent her way after the Variety interview aired in the latest episode of The Kardashians.
“I’m mortified. I don’t know what to do because I obviously … it’s all my fault,” Kim says on a phone call with her mother. Kris assures her, “‘It’s not your fault, sweetie, people misunderstood where you were coming from.”
In a confession interview, Kim adds, “When I made that statement, it wasn’t a blanket statement towards all women, like as if I didn’t think women work hard or respect the work that they do, because I see it every single day. The most important people in my life that have shaped my life and my career and helped me get to where I am today are women, so I hated that that got misunderstood, and for that I’m so sorry.”
Kim reiterates her attitude while having lunch with Khloé and Kendall Jenner.
“I said what I said about people working. Do I believe in that? Yes. I believe that you have to work hard in order to do that,” she says. “I was just so blindsided by how angry people got. … But enough people were triggered so I want to be responsible and understand why people feel the way that they do … and I do understand that … that a lot of people weren’t given the same opportunities as us.”
Khloé then rushes to Kim’s aid.
“We’ve had crazy-great opportunities … but also, you did work,” she says. In a confession interview, she adds, “No matter what her answer would have been, people would crucify her regardless, because they’re always going to say, ‘Well, what do you know? You were born with a silver spoon in your mouth.'”
Kim tells the story of their parents having to sell their home in Hidden Hills, a celebrity-favored gated enclave with a typical family income of $250,000. It proves they’re more than a bunch of lucky rich kids born with silver spoons in their mouths.
“If people understood that, yeah, we grew up privileged,” Kim says. “But people don’t know the story of your dad and Mom having to sell their house in Hidden Hills because they couldn’t afford it and they had to move to an apartment.”
In a confession interview, she adds, “I think people would assume that I got everything handed to me being on a TV show, but being on a reality show, let alone a reality show girl with a sex tape, does not open doors. I always felt like I had to work extra hard, and harder, to be taken seriously and for people to forget about my past.”