The Kardashians are back.
The famous family’s new Hulu series, The Kardashians, premiered Thursday — nearly 10 months after their original reality series Keeping Up with the Kardashians ended after 20 seasons. The new series picks back up with Kris Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, Khloé Kardashian, Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner, following their personal highs, family drama and respective businesses.
And much like in the debut episode of KUWTK, the topic of Kim Kardashian’s sex tape was the center of the drama in Kardashians.
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The episode kicked off with the family gathering for an afternoon barbeque. All seemed to be going just fine among the family, but things took a turn when Kim noticed something strange in one of the games on her 6-year-old son Saint’s iPad.
“There was a picture of my cry-face,” said Kim. “And then I looked at it and it said something super inappropriate like ‘Kim’s new sex tape.’ “
The sex tape, which was filmed while Kim was dating rapper Ray J in 2003, went public in 2007 and led to years of controversy for the reality star.
“This is supposed to be unreleased footage from my old sex tape,” Kim explained. “The last thing that I want as a mom is for my past to be brought up 20 years later, especially when it’s this big party and my whole family is here. This is some real embarrassing s— and I need to deal with it. I will deal with it. I just cannot believe this is happening right now.”
“Had my son been a little bit older and been able to read, I would have been mortified,” she added.
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Later while packing for her upcoming hosting gig at Saturday Night Live with Kris, Khloé and Kourtney, Kim got on the phone with her lawyer to discuss the threat of the existence of new, unreleased footage from the original tape.
“Our legal rights are that she could sue anyone who releases the tape,” her lawyer, Marty Singer, said. “Even if it exists, they don’t have a legal right to release the tape without her consent.”
While Kim said she is “99.9 percent sure” no additional footage exists, she couldn’t help but feel emotional over the idea of having to deal with the public fallout from the tape all over again.
“For 20 years, this has been held over my head of this mistake … or is it a mistake? It was my boyfriend of years. We go on a trip, we film a video. It’s embarrassing for that to be out there but it’s not the most scandalous thing and I’m not going to be made to feel that way. I’m just human.”
After telling Singer to “scare the s—” out of the people threatening to release the alleged new tape, Kim made it clear she wasn’t messing around.
“The message is more important than the dollars at this point,” she said. “I’m not doing anything wrong, I’m protecting myself for my reputation and my children’s sake.”
But while she managed to hold it together with her legal team, Kim broke down in tears while discussing the potential scandal with her ex, Kanye West. (Kim filed for divorce from West in February 2021, after nearly seven years of marriage. Along with Saint, the former couple share kids North, 8, Chicago, 4, and Psalm, 2½.)
“Over my dead body is this s— going to happen to me again,” she said to West. “I just want it gone. This is not going to f— with me.”
In a confessional, Kim said West helped calm her down. “He was like ‘Listen, you have the power. Nothing will cancel you. Stop worrying about the public perception, you know who you are.'”
But Kim was still adamant about stopping the situation from escalating further for the sake of her four kids.
“Get something drafted so it can be taken down immediately,” she told her lawyers when they called her back. “I don’t want it copied. I have four f—ing kids. I can’t go through this again.”
“I have all the time, all the money and all of the resources to burn them all to the f—ing ground.”
Earlier this year, Kim denied the existence of a second tape after West publicly claimed he obtained a laptop with unreleased footage on it.
“After review, there was nothing sexual unseen, only footage on the plane on the way to Mexico and footage at a club and restaurant on the same trip,” a rep for Kim said at the time. “Kim remains firm in her belief that there is no new second tape that exists. After 20 years, she truly wishes to move on from this chapter with focus instead on the positive things she continues to do as a mother, entrepreneur and advocate for justice reform.”
Photo Credit: Getty