Kim Kardashian

"Kim" Kimberly Noel Kardashian was born in Los Angeles, California on October 21, 1980, to parents Robert and Kris Kardashian. Kim’s parents divorced in 1991.

As a teenager, she attended Marymount High School, a Roman Catholic all-girls school in Los Angeles. In 1994, her father garnered public attention as the primary defense lawyer for football player O.J. Simpson during his murder trial. In 2003, Robert Kardashian was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, and died that September.

In 2000, a 19-year-old Kardashian eloped to music producer Damon Thomas. Thomas filed for divorce in 2003, though Kardashian later credited their separation to physical and emotional abuse on his part. During this time, Kardashian was also close friends with socialite Paris Hilton, through whom she first garnered media attention. Prior to the finalization of her divorce, Kardashian began dating singer Ray J, the younger brother of Brandy Norwood. In February 2007, a sex tape made by Kardashian and Ray J in 2003 was leaked. Kardashian filed a lawsuit against Vivid Entertainment, who distributed the film as Kim K Superstar, and dropped the suit and settled for $5 million.

In October 2007, Kardashian, in addition to her mother Kris; her step-father Bruce; her siblings Kourtney, Khloé, and Rob; and half-sisters Kendall and Kylie were commissioned to star in the reality television series Keeping Up with the Kardashians. The series proved successful for E!, the network in which it is broadcast, and has led to the creations of spin-offs including Kourtney and Kim Take New York and Kourtney and Kim Take Miami. That December, Kardashian posed for a nude pictorial for Playboy.

In 2008, Kardashian made her feature film debut in the disaster film spoof Disaster Movie. That year, she was announced as one of thirteen participants on the seventh season of Dancing with the Stars, where she was partnered with Mark Ballas. Kardashian was the third contestant to be eliminated.

In January 2009, Kardashian guest starred as herself during an episode of the sitcom How I Met Your Mother in the episode "Benefits". That March, she launched an endorsement with ShoeDazzle shopping, of which she is the co-founder and chief fashion stylist. She then endorsed multiple other projects including a vanilla cupcake mix flavor called 'Va-Va-Va-Nilla' for the Los Angeles bakery, Famous Cupcakes. In April, she released a workout DVD series, Fit in Your Jeans by Friday, with trainers Jennifer Galardi and Patrick Goudeau. In June, it was announced that Kardashian was to star as Elle in the television series Beyond the Break. August saw Kardashian become a guest host of WrestleMania XXIV and guest judge on America's Next Top Model. In September, Fusion Beauty and Seven Bar Foundation launched "Kiss Away Poverty", with Kardashian as the face of the campaign. For every LipFusion lipgloss sold, $1 went to the Foundation to fund women entrepreneurs in the US. The following month, she released her first fragrance titled "Kim Kardashian". On December 16, 2009, Kardashian made a guest star appearance on CBS's CSI: NY with Vanessa Minnillo.

2010 saw Kardashian venture into several new endorsement deals, including endorsing various food products for Carl's Jr. Beginning in early 2010, Kardashian and her sisters designed and developed clothing lines for Bebe stores and 'Virgins, Saints, and Angels'. In January 2010, she starred as Summa Eve in the film Deep in the Valley In April, Kardashian sparked controversy over the way she held a kitten for a photograph, holding it by the scruff of its neck.
June saw Kardashian guest star with Khloé and Kourtney as herself on the season three premiere episode of the series 90210. That same month, Kardashian was involved in a lawsuit against one of her endorsments. Sanford Siegal, the creator of the Cookie Diet, sued Kardashian, claiming she defamed him on Twitter. Additionally, Kardashian and her sisters released a sunless tanner "Kardashian Glamour Tan", that month.

On July 1, 2010, the New York City branch of Madame Tussauds revealed a wax figure of Kardashian.
Kardashian at London launch of new perfume Glam.

In November, Kardashian served as producer for The Spin Crowd, a reality television show about Command PR, a New York City public relations firm, run by Jonathan Cheban and Simon Huck. The show followed them as they settle into their new offices in Los Angeles. Kardashian is friends with both, specifically Cheban, who frequently appears on her reality shows. That month, she also appeared on the tenth season of The Apprentice. Kim, Kourtney, and Khloé wrote an autobiography titled Kardashian Konfidential, which was released in stores on November 23, and appeared on New York Times's Best Seller List.

In December 2010, Kardashian filmed a music video for a song titled "Jam (Turn It Up)". When asked if an album was in the works, Kardashian replied, "There's no album in the works or anything—just one song we did for Kourtney and Kim Take New York, and a video Hype Williams directed, half of the proceeds we're giving away to a cancer foundation, because The-Dream's and one of my parents passed away from cancer. It's just all having fun—with a good cause". That month, it was announced by the International Business Times that Kardashian's 2010 earnings were the highest among Hollywood-based reality stars, being estimated at $6 million.

Kardashian, who has supported recognition of the Armenian Genocide on numerous occasions, encouraged American President Barack Obama and the United States government to consider its acknowledgement. That April, she also released her third fragrance "Gold".
In May 2010, she became engaged to NBA player Kris Humphries, then of the New Jersey Nets, whom she had been dating since October 2010. They were married during an extravagant wedding ceremony on August 20 in Montecito, California. Earlier that month, she had released her "wedding fragrance" called "Kim Kardashian Love" which coincided with her own wedding. A two-part TV special showing the preparations and the wedding itself aired on E! in early October 2011, amidst what The Washington Post called a "media blitz" related to the wedding. Also in October, Kardashian and her sisters opened their Kardashian Khaos store in Las Vegas. After 72 days of marriage, Kardashian filed for divorce from Humphries on October 31, citing irreconcilable differences. After filing for the divorce, Kardashian asked the court to order Humphries to pay his own legal expenses. On December 1, Humphries filed his response to Kardashian's petition, requesting an annulment on the grounds of fraud or if the court would not grant an annulment, a decree of legal separation rather than Kardashian's requested divorce. Several news outlets surmised that Kardashian's marriage to Humphries was merely a publicity stunt, to promote the Kardashian family's brand and their subsequent television ventures. Her former publicist also claimed that her short-lived wedding was indeed staged and a ploy to generate money. Kardashian filed suit against him, saying his claims were untrue. A widely circulated petition asking to remove all Kardashian-related programming from the air followed the split.

In March 2012, Kardashian debuted her fourth fragrance titled "True Reflection", which she worked with the company Dress for Success to promote.[ That month, Kardashian and her sisters were named in a $5 million class action lawsuit against QuickTrim, the weight loss supplement they endorse. The complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, accuses the Kardashians (along with QuickTrim’s manufacturer, Windmill Health Products; the retailer GNC; and others in the sales and marketing chain) of false and deceptive marketing of the diet aid. The plaintiffs, hailing from several states, brought claims under their respective states’ consumer protection laws. In April, E! renewed Keeping Up with the Kardashians for two additional seasons, in a deal reported to be worth $50 million. Kardashian also began dating American rapper and longtime friend Kanye West that month, though she remained legally married to Humphries. In October 2012, Kardashian released her fifth fragrance, "Glam", In November, Kardashian and her sisters internationally launched the 'Kardashian Collection' in England, as well as launching a line of cosmetics, 'Khroma Beauty'. On December 31, 2012, Kardashian and West announced that she was pregnant with the couple's first child, a girl.

In February 2013, a judge ruled that Kardashian's divorce case with Humphries would go to trial, and set a trial date for May. However, on April 19, 536 days after Kardashian's initial divorce filing, she and Humphries reached an undisclosed divorce settlement, avoiding a trial. The divorce was legally finalized on June 3. Kardashian gave birth to her daughter with West, named North West, on June 15 at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, five weeks prior to her due date. Kardashian and West became engaged on October 21, Kardashian's 33rd birthday, when West rented out AT&T Park in San Francisco and projected a proposal message on the stadium screen in front of Kardashian's assembled friends and family members. On September 24, 2013, Variety and Entertainment Weekly reported that Kardashian will guest voice-star as an alien in the long-running adult animated series American Dad! The episode is slated to air as part of the show's 10th season (2013–14).