Khloe Kardashian is taking back the narrative about her body. After years of constant comparisons to her famous sisters Kourtney and Kim as well as her half sisters Kylie Jenner and Kendall Jenner, things seemingly hit a low note this week when an unfiltered and photoshopped image of the Keeping up with the Kardashians star circulated online. The star went to the unusual move of attempting to have the photo scrubbed from the interwebs, but she ultimately decided to address what happened, why, and share new, unfiltered video with her fans.
As happens with celebrities on occasion, Khloe Kardashian allegedly didn’t find the aforementioned photo flattering when it was taken. Reports about the scrubbed photo (which features Khloe in a bikini and doesn’t make her look bad, just less celebrity-oriented and more normal person than in the photos that have been touched up) indicate she may have been talking when the photo was taken. Given she owns the copyright, any measures she may have wanted to take were her right.
Of course, though, since fans were genuinely positive about the candid bikini photo, there was a lot of curiosity around why she made such an effort to scrub the photo, which then became a major news story. Khloe Kardashian took to Instagram this week to share what her body looks like when it’s not touched up -- on her own terms and at an angle she was comfortable with.
Khloe Kardashian went on later in the post to explain that the original scrubbed photo was “beautiful” but noted that as a Keeping up with the Kardashians reality star (soon to be former star) and someone in the public eye, she’s also had the unique experience of “struggling with her body image,” even compared to her famous sisters. In the past, she’s been open about the hard work she put in that led to major weight loss, but the impact of all of that body judgement prior left a mark. She said:
In truth, the pressure, constant ridicule and judgment my entire life to be perfect and to meet other’s standards of how I should look has been too much to bear. ‘Khloe is the fat sister.’ ‘Khloe is the ugly sister.’ ‘Her dad must not be her real dad because she looks so different.’ ‘The only way she could have lost that weight must have been from surgery.’ Shall I go on?
She went on for a while to explain that she’s been able to take that criticism and use it to get into “the best shape of [her] life” and has also capably moved forward in the public eye, though she notes she’s “never quite” gotten “used to being judged” herself, but also in the ways the rest of the Jenner/Kardashian clan often is. According to Khloe Kardashian, she’s not going to take the online vitriol anymore and closed with a personal and succinct statement.
My body, my image and how I choose to look and what I want to share is my choice. It’s not for anyone to decide or judge what is acceptable or not anymore.
Mic dropped. Khloe Kardashian has never been afraid to clap back at trolls online; however, this was such a weird set of circumstances to go viral on the Internet I’m really happy she addressed it. Kardashian has had a weird few years on the Internet. She had a baby, worked really hard to lose weight and then started doing more with her hair and makeup online. At one point in 2020, fans were calling out her newer figure and face and saying she didn’t even “look like herself” anymore. She’s been cut very few breaks on the Internet, and this latest photo-scrubbing incident really just is the cherry on top.
We’ll have to wait and see what Khloe Kardashian does on the Internet next. However, one thing is for certain: even with what happened here, this likely won’t be the end of the Kardashian sisters’ social media outings. After all, she’s still got a lot of ZenWTR to hawk.
