In the words of Twitter user, @boybrazzy, “The devil is working hard, but Kris Jenner is working harder.” No one else would be able to take a relatively unremarkable group of rich girls from Calabasas and transform them into a multi-million dollar empire. Between pregnancy rumors, divorce, criminal charges, legal feuds and sex scandals — Kris has been able to turn every Kardashian–Jenner scandal in to dollar signs.
It’s pretty much impossible to check social media, open a magazine, read a newspaper, or chat with your friends without hearing about them. Being one of the most famous families in the world definitely comes with a price, especially when every member of the Kardashian-Jenner clan sends 24/7 updates of their life to Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. Love them or hate them, the Kardashians have found a way to make millions off of pretty much every rumor or scandal surrounding their family, and we just keep watching. So, whether you’re a seasoned pro in Kardashian trivia, or you (claim to) not care at all, we’ve ranked 20 of the Kardashian-Jenner’s biggest scandals. You know, because somebody had to.
20. Kendall and Kylie Jacking Art for Their Clothing Line
This Kardashian-Jenner scandal was honestly unsurprising, but still super messed-up. Kylie unfortunately has a history of stealing original art from lesser-known artists, and this definitely didn’t help. Basically, Kendall and Kylie posted a preview of their newest line of “vintage band tees.” If the $125 price tag wasn’t enough to make you roll your eyes, the designs essentially copy-and-pasted designs from musicians like The Doors, Pink Floyd, Tupac and Biggie and superimposed the Jenner sister’s faces on top. Why? Who knows. Fortunately, Violetta Wallace (mother of Biggie) put a stop to it real quick, calling them exploitive, “disgusting” and “disrespectful.” The girls apologized.
19. Khloé’s Pregnancy
HELL. YES. If you’re relatively uninvolved in the goings-on of the Kardashians, this may not seem like anything more than another celebrity pregnancy rumor. This isn’t necessarily a Kardashian-Jenner scandal per sé, but for all the Kardashian-obsessed trash people like us, however, this is huge. As we all know, the Kardashians appear to be a pretty fertile bunch (ahem, Kourtney), but Khloé has always struggled with getting pregnant. When her and Lamar’s marriage was still going strong, they were constantly struggling to get pregnant, and it was super heartbreaking — you kind of had to be there. Basically, Khloé watched as Kourtney accidentally got pregnant multiple times with dumb ol’ Scott, while Khloé and Lamar were desperately trying and having no luck. So super-long story short, we really, really hope Khloé’s actually pregnant.
Part of the reason this does feel like a big deal is because it would mean she and two of her sisters would be having a baby around the same time — is this a pregnancy pact or something?
18. Kris’s Young Beau, Corey Gamble
Somehow, this is the only Kardashian-Jenner scandal directly involving Kris. This is probably because Kris acts as more of a puppeteer in most of these scenarios — working her evil genius-magic while her entire family runs around like maniacs. But, she didn’t quite quite get off scot-free. Her fairly recent relationship with Corey Gamble wasn’t necessarily a scandal, but it certainly raised some eyebrows.
After splitting with Caitlyn, 61 year-old Kris rebounded in a big way with now ex-boyfriend, 33-year-old Corey Gamble. After some in-depth research, we finally got some info on who the heck this guy is. Basically, they met at a party through mutual friends. Gamble works for Justin Bieber’s manager, so he’s fairly new to the spotlight. It also appears that he sometimes acts as a security guard for the Kardashian girls. Based on the show, he seemed like a pretty chill guy… but you can understand why Kris’s daughters were a little skeptical about their mom’s young love who just happens to be the same age as Kim and younger than Kourt.
17. All of the Scott Disick-Related Debauchery
Scott, Scott, Scott. We hated him, we loved him, but I think now we definitely hate him again? Scott Disick‘s relationship with Kourtney has pretty much just been one, long Kardashian-Jenner scandal. TBT to the Kourtney and Khloé Take Miami days when Scott was p much a raging alcoholic and an evil, evil man. Everyone hated him. Suddenly, Scott got his sh*t together, redeemed himself, and became one of the most sympathetic characters on KUWTK.
He cracked jokes about how rich and “talentless” they all were, catered to Kourtney’s high maintenance ways, and ended up doing everything he could to make Kourtney love him again. It seemed cold, but Kourtney stayed strong and kept their relationship purely platonic. Turns out she was right because now Scott is back to his partying ways and has been seen with Bella Thorne and Sofia Richie Ugh. Turns out Kourtney had the kind of strength we all crave when it comes to saying “see ya” to our toxic exes.
16. Kim and Kanye Becoming ~Official~
Remember when Kim and Kanye West first officially started dating? It’s hard to imagine a world without Kimye; it seems almost pointless. It really seems like centuries ago. Kanye had just broken up with Amber Rose when he admitted he was crushin’ on Kim in his track “Theraflu.” Family members began subtly hinting that the two were involved until they finally made their public debut in 2012. The two were PDAing everywhere and the people were loving it. Then, in December of that year, they announced Kim was pregnant! Can you believe that North was born five years ago? They truly grow up so fast.
15. Kylie’s First Cosmetic ~Procedures~
TBT to when Kylie first started filling in her lips. What started as an innocent makeup ~illusion~ turned into pretty much an entire new face and body for the youngest of the Kardashian-Jenner clan. After a few months of some pretty noticeable physical changes, people started asking questions. Kylie started by denying any kind of cosmetic procedure, then later admitted to getting lip fillers. The thought of being able to get any kind of cosmetic procedure you want done when you’re 17 is a scary thought. It pretty much escalated from there. While it’s unclear what Kylie exactly did to her appearance, a quick before and after comparison shows that she’s had some serious work done.
14. Caitlyn’s car accident
This Kardashian-Jenner scandal did not get nearly enough attention. Basically, Caitlyn Jenner was involved in a multi-car pileup while cruising down the Pacific Coast Highway, killing 70 year-old Kimberly Howe. Howe’s family sued Jenner, because she actually rear-ended Howe, who subsequently swerved into traffic. However, the district attorney decided not to charge Jenner with misdemeanor manslaughter, after they determined she was actually driving under the speed limit. Still, it’s not every day that a huge celeb is involved in a deadly car crash and it gets pretty much swept under the rug.
13. Kim’s (Kind Of) Nude Selfie
This so did not have to be another Kardashian-Jenner scandal, but you know how people get when there’s a boob on the internet, even a censored one. Basically, Kim decided to post a nude mirror selfie, but she blocked out her *gasp* nipples with a black bar, in the internet and entire world still decided to freak out. There was a family feud versus Chloe Grace Moretz, who criticized Kim’s decision to post the photo.
Kim is a super unashamed when it comes to showing off her body, to which we say — good for you! Posting a nudie pic on the internet does not make you a bad mom, or a bad person so will everyone please relax. Pretty interesting how people love seeing celebrity nudes when they leak, but not when celebs release them on their own? Huh.
12. Kim’s Wildly Short Marriage to Chris Humphries
Chris who? Oh, yeah, that dude. Remember the basketball player who (more importantly) became Kim Kardashian’s husband of 72 days? It’s okay if you’ve forgotten, we kind of did, too. A lot of people accused Kim of marrying Chris Humphries for publicity, to which Kourtney brilliantly said: “If she was going to do it for publicity, she’d pick someone that people knew.” Slam.
If you watched the episodes of KUWTK leading up to the wedding, we all knew it was doomed from the start. Chris was dragging his feet about pretty much everything and honestly acted like a child throughout the whole process. Granted, marrying a Kardashian is most definitely no walk in the park. Hey, we’ve all rushed into relationships that turn into disasters, just be glad they weren’t followed with a televised special and a multi-million dollar wedding.
11. Kim’s Racist Paper Magazine Cover
There are layers to this Kardashian-Jenner scandal. Basically, Kim posed for the cover of Paper magazine with the subtitle, “Break the Internet.” And break the internet, it certainly did. While the original response was that the cover was ridiculous, and there was some critique over the mild nudity within the magazine, the biggest issue with the magazine is that it evoked some super racist imagery.
If you weren’t aware, the imagery comes from a 1982 book cover featuring African American women entitled “Jungle Fever.” Yikes. Plus, they were super reminiscent of displays featuring a woman named “Saartjie ‘Sarah’ Baartman,” a South African woman whose literal body parts were part of a highly racist and misogynistic display in a London museum. This article does a great job of explaining why this was super not okay, hopefully Kim gave it a read at some point.
10. The WHOLE Lamar and Khloé Divorce Tragedy
Um, tears. This Kardashian-Jenner scandal was just straight-up heartbreaking. Seriously, we can all agree that Khloé is all of our favorite Kardashian, yes? We saw Khloé and Lamar from the beginning of their relationship to their own reality show to years of trying to conceive a baby. Turns out Lamar was facing some serious issues with drug addictions, leaving him hospitalized on the brink of death. Khloé supported him through the whole thing, but still, the two were not able to reconcile, especially since Lamar is still struggling to get help. It sucks because if you obsessively watch every Kardashian-related reality show (like us), you were rooting for Khlo and Lammy the whole time.
9. Rob and Blac Chyna’s Seemingly-Endless Feud
This is definitely one of the messiest Kardashian-Jenner scandals of all time. Mostly because it’s kind of unclear who’s to blame (well, honestly Rob Kardashian — but Blac Chyna’s not much better). Basically, Chyna ran out on Rob with their child, claiming he was a horrible and abusive husband. Rob then claimed she only married him for publicity, then stole their child. Okay, fine. But then Rob solidified his position as The Worst by releasing nude photos of Chyna without her consent. Um, ew. Now there are all sorts of legal battles and conflicting stories surrounding the two of them.
8. Caitlyn Coming Out
And of course, if we’re going to bring up Caitlyn, we have to mention one of the biggest Kardashian-Jenner scandals (for lack of a better word): Caitlyn’s coming out. This was honestly one of the most shocking things to happen in recent pop culture history, mainly because Caitlyn is probably the most famous trans woman to come out before the public eye. If anyone remembers, seemingly-unfounded rumors began spreading that Caitlyn was a trans woman long before she came out, making it even more shocking when she actually did. While the family kind of handled it less than gracefully, they all had Caitlyn’s best interests at heart, and definitely brought an extremely important conversation into the mainstream media.
7. The “Is-Khloé-Even-A-Kardashian” Drama
This one is a relatively confusing Kardashian-Jenner scandal because it just kind of faded into nothing without any real resolution. Basically, the family always joked that Khloé was either adopted or had a different dad than Kim, Kourtney, and Rob because of how little she resembled the other family members. In one episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Khloé repeatedly badgers Kris about this, who tells Khloé she should just get a paternity test if she isn’t sure. In the end, Khloé didn’t get one, but the general consensus is that she is, in fact, a Kardashian.
6. Underage Kylie Dating Very Overage Tyga
Okay, can we all stop normalizing Kylie and Tyga‘s relationship and just admit that the whole thing was straight-up gross? The fact that the entire family was just totally fine with 17-year-old Kylie dating 26-year-old Tyga was super not cool. Tyga is a grown man with a child, and Kylie was barely legal when the two first started dating (or definitely underage in some states??? I’m no expert). While the two were in a long-term, committed relationship, there’s something super icky and unsettling about men his age going for teenage girls. Like, there are plenty of women your own age, why are you out for high-schoolers? LMK.
5. Kim Totally Exposing Taylor Swift Over Snapchat
This was one of the juiciest Kardashian-Jenner scandals. While the Kardashians are always in the spotlight, this time was unusual because Kim pretty much decided to spark a huge public feud of her own accord. Of course, it all started on Snapchat.
Basically, Taylor Swift had been trash-talking the West-Kardashians, saying that she was super offended by Kanye’s lyrics about her. Um, nice try. Kim then released recorded footage of Taylor giving Kanye her royal approval for the lyrics she claimed were misogynistic later on. You know what they say about messing with the bull.
4. Kendall’s Absurd Pepsi Ad
Kendall, honey. Why? How did an entire corporation’s worth of people, plus Kendall Jenner‘s entire PR/management team see this and think: “yep, let’s broadcast this for millions of people.” If you didn’t see Kendall’s horrific Pepsi ad, it basically depicts her being involved in some kind of march (remember, this was aired at a time when the Black Lives Matter movement was gaining tons of public recognition), and there’s a bunch of police officers. Basically, the protesters and officers meet, but no worries! They end up having a grand ol’ time because Kendall offers them a Pepsi. The whole thing was a pretty tone-deaf, “why can’t we all just get along” message that was super offensive to an entire human rights movement. Plus, it came out that Kendall stated she was “traumatized” by the whole thing. Girl. Shh.
3. The Paris Robbery
This Kardashian-Jenner scandal was straight-up wild from start to finish. Not only did this create Kim Kardashian’s longest social media hiatus ever, it just keeps being dragged out. during Paris Fashion Week, Kim was in her hotel room when an armed group of robbers entered the room, tied her up and held her at gunpoint. As if this wasn’t traumatic enough, there were immediately stories circulating about whether the whole thing had been staged for publicity. Yuck. Plus, if that weren’t enough, the trial against the robbers is still going on, causing one of them to write an apology letter to Kim. Talk about too little, too late.
2. Kylie’s Pregnancy (?!)
As of right now, this is probably the biggest Kardashian-Jenner scandal, mostly because Kylie Jenner refuses to address it. If you’re like us and have an unhealthy interest in every Kardashian-Jenner happening, you know how frustrating this whole “is Kylie pregnant or not” debacle has been. Hearing from various “close sources” that she’s pregnant with Travis Scott’s baby with no confirmation from Kylie herself is driving the public wild. Especially since Kylie keeps posting her 300-second Snapchat stories that are just swatches of her makeup and various selfies. The people want the truth!
1. Kim’s Sex Tape (The OG Scandal)
Of course, we had to give the number one spot to the sex tape heard ‘round the world. This super-early Kardashian-Jenner scandal is what thrust the family into the public eye. Before getting into this, it’s super important to remember that this was released without her consent — meaning that Ray J is a total snake and all of the flack Kim received for this was not her fault.
ANYWAY, thanks to publicity-mastermind and momager, Kris Jenner, this sex tape became the platform on which Kim began her career. She had to face a serious amount of slut-shaming and public criticism but managed to use it to her advantage. So just remember, mock her if you will, but Kim’s laughing all the way to the bank.
Scandal Count
Kourtney: 1 (By Scott Disick Proxy)
Kim: 7
Rob: 1
Khloe: 3
Kendall: 2
Kylie: 4
Kris: 20 (She’s the mastermind behind it all)