Is it even a week in our American news cycle without some questionable comments by Kim Kardashian getting the internet riled up? Kardashian appears on the cover of Allure‘s August 2022 issue and was profiled for the cover story, and it’s getting lots of attention. This time, the remarks that are causing a stir aren’t about people’s work ethic, but her revelations about the plastic surgery she’s had done—or more accurately, as she claims, hasn’t done.
The profile starts out with Kardashian saying she’s known as “a really good facial consultant” and recommends the Allure writer get Botox, one of the most common nonsurgical procedures. Kind of like how I claim to give good legal advice, and my advice is “speak to an attorney”. But anyway, the interview naturally progresses to a discussion of Kardashian’s cosmetic enhancements, or as the writer puts it, “What do you have in your face right now?” Kim admits to having “a little bit of Botox” between her brows, and says she has “no filler.” In fact, she says, she’s never had filler, even on her lips and cheeks (the writer asks). She even denies having eyelash extensions. “I’ve never had eyelash extensions,” she says. “I’ve never done anything. I have a drop of mascara on today. I’ve never filled my cheeks. I’ve never filled my lips.” (An Allure article from 2012 calls Kim “she of the mile-long eyelash extensions” and discusses how she toned down her look because of Kanye West’s influence.)
Not everyone is buying it. Kardashian isn’t asked about which, if any, surgical enhancements she received below the neck, and is praised for creating her body: “unlike the Aphrodites of generations past, Kardashian wasn’t born with it, she created it.” There’s no mention of how she created it, or with what help. Kim, like her sisters, has long denied plastic surgery rumors, although in the past she has admitted to belly button tightening, a non-invasive treatment that aims to reduce lines, wrinkles, and loose skin around the belly button. The closest she’s come to revealing she got “butt injections” was in 2016, when she said she received a cortisone shot in her rear end to treat her psoriasis.
There’s a discussion of the impact Kim’s aesthetic has had on the public—namely, causing self-loathing. The writer opines, “The dagger nails, the daddy longlegs lashes, the tiny waists, the bulbous butts: Can we trace it all back to Kim?” No. So much has been written about the Kardashians’ blackfishing and appropriation that this can’t even be a serious question, even if rhetorical.
When asked if she feels responsible or guilty for setting an unattainable beauty standard, Kardashian replies, “If I’m doing it, it’s attainable.” This comes after she admits to doing laser treatments at night while her kids are asleep, which I hardly need to point out is the very definition of not attainable for everyone. Neither is Botox, which can cost hundreds of dollars for forehead injections, like Kim’s. Neither are the nutritionist and trainer Kardashian later says she consulted to achieve her controversial 15-pound weight loss ahead of the Met Gala. You get the point.
Celebrities don’t necessarily owe the public a disclosure of every procedure they’ve had done, and the plastic surgery denial wouldn’t be that important if Kardashian wasn’t claiming her looks are attainable for everyone, and if her wealth weren’t tied up in that exact claim, from the beauty products to the shapewear and her new 9-step skin care line, SKKN. Speaking of SKKN, Kardashian said she “wanted to create a line based on exactly what I really do.” The implicit messaging is there: do this 9-step routine, which costs $575, and which Kardashian tells Allure she doesn’t use all of every day, and you too could look like Kim. (Minus the Botox and nightly laser treatments, of course.)
Kardashian tells Allure that she’s “at peace with not being perfect,” but “would still do anything to look and feel youthful.” That includes eating feces; she doubles down on her semi-joking comments she made to the New York Times last month.
“Maybe just a bite,” she says. “I don’t think I can do a whole bowl.” For all the talk of eating shit, she’s been feeding it to us for years.
Images: MEGA/GC Images; Joe Seer / Shutterstock.com
