How did Kim Kardashian help make Paris Hilton a tabloid legend?
The world was a very different place in the early 2000s: people enjoyed using AOL disks from cereal boxes and low-cut jeans were all the rage. Now all that stuff seems like it’s meant for history textbooks, but some things will never change. We don’t get the internet from a disk anymore, but it’s still a (mostly) enjoyable place.
Back in the 2000s, anyone with cable TV or a magazine knew who Paris Hilton was. Kim Kardashian was once Paris Hilton’s sidekick but has now garnered even more fame than Hilton herself. Kardashian is still all over the news as a major celebrity but Paris Hilton isn’t. Here’s the story about how Paris Hilton made Kim K a thing, and how Kim returned the favor.
Paris & Kim
Paris Hilton is the great-granddaughter of the Hilton hotel’s founder Conrad Hilton, but it wasn’t his legacy that made Paris such a pop culture icon. Paris Hilton started gaining notoriety due to her late-night appearances and overall socialite brand, which eventually led to an infamous sex tape and the TV show The Simple Life also featuring Nicole Richie.
Kim Kardashian, on the other hand, worked as a stylist for Paris Hilton but the two started becoming very close. The first time the world at large got to see Kim K was in an episode of The Simple Life, but then we also saw much more from Kardashian as her own sex tape “leaked” to the public.
In the book Kardashian Dynasty, Tim Halperin mentions a source who confirmed that Kim Kardashian’s sex tape was released as part of a marketing strategy to make her famous. This isn’t so crazy considering Kim’s previous marketing ventures.
According to the BBC documentary Celebrity: A 21st-Century Story, Paris Hilton also has to thank Kim Kardashian for her constant appearance in tabloids since Kim would constantly tip-off paparazzi about the celebrity’s whereabouts. Talk about a win-win situation, right?
Life after The Simple Life
Paris Hilton continued to be all over the media for a while but slowly became less famous in the 2010s. Of course, she’s still a model, businesswoman, and overall online presence. However, we haven’t seen her party-girl persona in the news for a while.
Kim Kardashian, on the other hand, has found a way to stay on everyone’s home page in one way or another. Kim’s networking & marketing strategies have surely paid off. Not only have we seen more of Kim’s life through Keeping Up With the Kardashians, but we also got to see her create her own business and lots about her marriage with Kanye West.
Taking a look at Kim Kardashian’s own career, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that she may have helped out Paris Hilton’s tabloid fame. Sure, releasing sex tapes might be a little too much, but we admit Kim’s qualities shouldn’t be overlooked. It does take a lot of effort & vision to strategize as she has for the past decade.
BFFs?
Back in the day, if you knew the name Kim Kardashian it was probably because you knew Paris Hilton. The two of them used to be close friends and were seen together doing whatever “it-girls” do.
Unfortunately, Kim Kardashian & Paris Hilton started distancing and they even started to throw shade at each other. It all seems water under the bridge now as the two have appeared on each other’s Instagram occasionally. Kim was invited to Paris’s birthday, and Paris modeled for Kanye West’s clothing line Yeezy. Paris & Kim might not be BFFs anymore, but it seems like they’re still good friends despite everything.
