Kim Kardashian discussed her sx tape with rapper Ray J on the very first episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians in 2007
As Keeping Up With the Kardashians draws to a close, Kim Kardashian and the show’s producers are opening up about the decision to tackle her sx tape on the very first episode in 2007.
During the episode, Kourtney Kardashian helped Kim get ready for an appearance on The Tyra Banks Show. When she asked her sister why she made the tape with rapper Ray J, Kim replied, “Because I was excited and wanted to.”
In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Kim, 40, said she probably wouldn’t have addressed the scandal publicly if it weren’t for KUWTK.
“I think obviously as producers, I’m sure they loved it,” she said. ” E Love you [us] want to talk about the elephant in the room. And I probably wouldn’t have, unless it was for show. Sometimes I’m like, ‘OK, I know I should probably deal with this and be done with it’. Someone’s gonna ask me, so might as well go ahead and do it.'”
The KKW Beauty mogul continued, “In a way, filming helped us deal with things, instead of sweeping them under the rug. At the end of the day, I’ve always been open and honest and wanted sharing everything I was going through. I wasn’t going to hold back.”
And while the sx tape was certainly a big moment in Kim’s life and on the show, it wasn’t the inspiration behind the show.
“I think everyone’s like, ‘The sx band made the show happen.’ So it wasn’t about that at all,” Lisa Berger, who at the time was E!’s executive vice president of original programming and series development, told the LA Times.
“I remember Kim being conflicted about it because she hated everything that was going on around that tape,” executive producer Farnaz Farjam said. “We all talked about ‘We just gotta own all the controversy around this family’ and jumped into it with both feet in the first episode. Then the audience can get to know them on a much deeper level than what has been tabloid headlines. ”
Eliot Goldberg, senior vice president of production and development at Ryan Seacrest Productions, noted that it was “awesome” for Kim to discuss the tape right away.
“They knew they had to deal with the sx tape,” he said. “It was really great that if they took it up high and put it to bed, they and the world could move on.”
Elsewhere in the LA Times interview, Goldberg discussed the origins of the Ryan Seacrest-produced series.
“It was the meeting that changed the world,” he said of his first encounter with the Kardashian-Jenners. “I don’t want to say that to make it more important. Back then it wasn’t. Now I believe in my heart, I’m not sure the world would be the same if we didn’t have didn’t have this meeting.”
Family matriarch Kris Jenner noted that Kourtney, 42, was the only one who was initially “hesitant” to do the show.
“Kourtney was a little hesitant. She was like, ‘Wait, what do we do? Let me, let me get used to it,'” Kris, 65, explained. everyone was so excited. I went into this meeting with a lot of confidence and anticipation that this was really going to happen. And I really felt that was the change for us as a family.”
More than a decade later, the show is coming to an end – the family announced last September that KUWTK’s 20th season would be its last.
“To our amazing fans, it is with heavy hearts that we have made the difficult decision as a family to say goodbye to Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” Kim said in a statement shared on Instagram. “After what will be 14 years, 20 seasons, hundreds of episodes and many spin-off shows, we are beyond grateful to all of you who have watched us for all these years – through the good times, the bad times, the the happiness, the tears and the many relationships and children. We will forever cherish the wonderful memories and the countless people we have met along the way.”
