I think I have known who the Kardashians were since I was able to form a sentence. Their first reality show, KUWTK (Keeping Up With The Kardashians) began in 2007, they have always been at the back of my mind. So today, I want to spend some time talking about them and in a way, defending them.

During the ‘earlier’ years of my teenage hood, there was a constant conversation surrounding that family and whatever scandal they were caught up in. I remember, I think I was around 10, my mum was walking me home from school and we walked past a news stand. One of the tabloids had Kim Kardashian’s face on it with some snarky title, I turned to my mum and asked “what did Kim do this time?” My mum laughed and shook her head, “she’s just a silly girl.”

That was the first (and certainly not the last) conversation I had with my mum about Kim Kardashian. There was a few times where the family would get brought up at our dinners, my dad butting in (trying to shut down any negative talk) “they’re Armenian! Kim baptised her kids in Armenia!” He would insist. Although most of the time it was a joke, but it was one of the few things I knew about her, that she was silly and that she was Armenian.

During Covid lockdown, I began watching KUWTK, gradually becoming engulfed into their world of glamour. Originally, I viewed the show as my guilty pleasure, attempting to explain myself, that I only watched it because it was entertaining or because I found them funny in a morbid way. But that wasn’t necessarily true, what was true, though, was that during those uncertain times, I watched that show because it made me feel better. I enjoyed it because it reminded me of my own family with my brothers. It gave me a sense of familiarity and warmth that calmed the feeling of isolation I felt.

Because that’s what that show is to it’s core, it’s about their family dynamic. Underneath the glitz and glam, the million dollar jewellery, the designer wardrobe or even the luxurious mansions. It was about those sisters. There is a sense of relatability there, they’ll be arguing, but it just happens to be on a private jet. It reminded me of my own arguments with my brothers, the same way Kim screamed and punched Khloe, was exactly how I have acted when my brothers teased me. Kourtney calling Kim a brat and Kim crying to her mum is something that felt all too similar to my own life. It made me nostalgic, it made me miss my brothers.

Whenever I miss them, I always find myself watching the Kardashians. Seeking comfort in siblings that I do not know.

I began watching their newer, self titled show in 2021, eventually my mother joined in ‘ironically’ watching along at first. But then she got into it, realising slowly (as I did), that these people were just like us. They were vulnerable, deeply traumatised and broke down exactly as we do. We would joke that we knew them; “remember when Kimmy showed us her new private jet?” My mum would say, giggly next to me. I’d respond by saying, “Kourtney told me she thinks you should go vegan.” We would attempt to pinpoint who in our family was each Kardashian, we’d ask one another who we would rather meet, who dresses the nicest. We both decided Kim does.

I find them endlessly fascinating, Kim in particular. The way she has managed to sustain not only her own fame but her entire family’s cultural relevance is remarkable, especially when you consider how it began. A private, humiliating, and deeply violating sex tape, something that should never have been public, became the foundation on which she was forced to build a public life. Rather than disappearing under the weight of that shame, she endured it, repurposed it, and refused to let it be the thing that destroyed her.

However you feel about Kim Kardashian, or any of the Kardashians. One cannot deny the amount of unwarranted and completely absurd backlash they have gotten over their 20 years of fame.

For example, in 2016 Kim Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint in her Paris hotel room. Even then, after this deeply traumatic and violent crime, people were adamant it was a publicity stunt for her reality TV show. It wasn’t until last year, that Kim has gotten justice for that moment in her life. I watched the trial episode that was posted late last year, my eyes were glued to the screen.

Honestly in awe, the bravery she has to face the people that did this to her, that had her fearing for her life is admirable. There is a part in the show, where her lawyers have told her not to come to court wearing jewellery as it may ‘offend’ others. Kardashian ignores this, stating that she wants to taunt them, that she had won and she wanted them to know that.

I can understand why people disagree with this, why they dislike this. But one must put themselves into Kim’s high heels for a moment and think about it. When I watched that scene, for whatever reason I thought of my mother, I wondered what she would have done if she had been in that situation and someone told her what they had told Kim. It made me realise, my mum would have done the exact same thing. Even I would have!

Just because it is Kim Kardashian, or any of the Kardashians, for that matter, does not automatically warrant skepticism or the stripping away of humanity.

Throughout the years, they have been the subject of shaming and mocking. Khloe Kardashian, in particular, being labelled the ‘fat one’ over the years, and then being ridiculed for losing weight. She was scrutinised, compared to her ‘more petite’ sisters, it never ended. Now I want to make something very clear, I do not believe that any of them needed any form of surgery or filler to begin with.

But that belief exists alongside another truth, when a woman’s looks is discussed, dissected and criticised for decades change becomes inevitable. Their modifications and changes was not ‘a choice’, it was something that was thrust upon them because the media scrutinised and broke them down. This was not feminism, this was not because they wanted this, it was because they believed if they looked perfect. The noise would stop. It’s appealing and wanting to be liked by a group that did not want them.

Even now, Kim has gone on a venture to become a lawyer, one that I find, honestly quite touching. It is partly, for herself and because she has an interest, and partly to uphold her father’s legacy. But when she fails the hardest bar law exam in the US, she is immediately ridiculed. When I see or read this mocking, there is a part of me that gets annoyed by it.

Countless people have failed those exams, they aren’t an easy thing to pass, the only difference is, their failures are not televised. Kim admits that she failed, but tells us she will keep trying, because it’s her dream. She holds her head up high and does not allow her failure to be a punchline.

I remember in high school, I had a falling out with my group of friends. I was embarrassed by it and didn’t want to face them the next day. Instead of wallowing in my humiliation, I picked myself up and despite not wanting to, I faced them. How is that any different to what they do?

People underestimate these girls, deeming them as dumb or ‘bimbos’. And maybe in the beginning, they were dumb or naive. But now, watching their show and ‘keeping up’ (sorry for the pun) with the Kardashians, has made me realise something very interesting. They are possibly the smartest, most astute and strategic socialites in the public eye. For almost 20 years the Kardashians have reigned, they have maintained cultural dominance in an industry designed to discard women the moment they age, falter, or lose novelty.

And it isn’t accidental, it is at the result of image management, adaptability and an acute understanding of pop culture.

Kim Kardashian is not the same woman that was in that tape, she is not the same woman that was Paris Hilton’s assistant. She is a genius at marketing, at selling herself. Her image has changed rapidly over the years, she is not the same person she was when she was 23. And I don’t think it is fair, to cast this woman off simply because she is lavish or enjoys luxury.

Kim is smart in an unconventional way. There is a frankly, iconic Met Gala look of hers from 2021, where she is completely covered head to toe in black. But people still know it’s her. Her silhouette alone is instantly recognisable. This is just one of her most iconic, and secretly smart moves of hers. It’s a message that says,”I know you see me as a body, but I can control how you see it.”

They’re controversial and they can be very tone deaf, but I hold them close to my heart, for sentimental reasons but also because, honestly I admire them. They HAVE worked hard to get to where they are. Yes they’re silly, but they’re also relentless and endlessly resilient.

In the end, the Kardashians are more than the headlines, scandals, and snarky memes. They are a family navigating fame under a microscope, women who have been mocked, shamed, and disbelieved for decades, yet continue to carve out their own paths. They are strategic, resilient, and unapologetically themselves, even when the world tells them to shrink, to stay quiet, or to be “less.”

Watching them has made me laugh, cringe, and cry; it has reminded me of my own family, my own siblings, and the messy, beautiful dynamics that shape all of us. Perhaps that is the most enduring lesson they offer: that strength, intelligence, and love can coexist with imperfection, and that enduring scrutiny with grace is its own kind of genius.

They are, as I like to put it, the American-Armenian royal family and unfortunately for all you skeptics, they’re reign doesn’t have an end in sight.