Kim Kardashian is trying to set the record straight.
Earlier this month, the 41-year-old reality star and mogul made headlines for some comments she made in a Variety profile. In the video portion of the interview, she declared:
“I have the best advice for women in business, get your a** up and work. It seems like nobody wants to work these days. You have to surround yourself with people that want to work.”
Her comments earned a lot of backlash, with many taking offense to what she said, noting her privileged upbringing as the foundation for her billionaire status and her many businesses.
Now, in a new ABC News exclusive interview to air in full on April 6, Kim states that her words were taken out of context:
“That statement that I said was without questions and conversation around it, and it became a soundbite really with no context. That soundbite I came off of the notion and the question right before which was, ‘After 20 years of being in the business, you’re famous for being famous.'”
She explains that her “whole tone and attitude changed” when the previous statement was added to a question about her sharing advice to women who in business:
“The advice that I would give is just having a social media presence and being on a reality show does not mean overnight success and you have to really work hard to get there… Even if it might seem like it’s easy and that you can build a really successful business off of social media — and you can, if you put in a lot of hard work.
It wasn’t a blanket statement towards women or to feel like I don’t respect the work or think that they don’t work hard, I know that they do. It was taken out of context, but I’m really sorry if it was received that way.”
However, Elizabeth Wagmeister, chief correspondent of Variety, is refuting Kim’s claim and calling her out:
“It’s not what she claims. I just reviewed the raw footage. The question was very direct: ‘What would be your advice for women in business?’
The question about being famous for being famous came after that question, actually.”
