New York Magazine - USA (2019-11-25)

november25–december8, 2019 | newyork 49

mean, I’ll put it on speaker, but ...

kris jenner: I remember it like it was

yesterday. We were at the Super Bowl in

Miami in 2010. And we had to go some-

where, and we couldn’t leave the space

without literally 12 GI Joe guys, and they all

were armed with rifles. Then we went to

the field and it was the craziest thing. We

saw huge stars all around us, and nobody

neededthekindofsecurity wedid.And

that’s whenweknewthat ourliveshad

reallychanged.

kimkardashianwest: I’mgoingtotell

himaboutDubaibecausethat’s what came

tomindforme.

kj: Okay.

kk: Okay, bye.

SoI’dsay2010, 2011 waslike,“I’ll do

anything.” Cupcakes,milkshakes.SoI go to

a milkshakeplaceinDubai,thinking,Oh,

it’sjust,youknow,somelittlemilkshake

store.Maybelike 250,000peopleshowed

uptotheDubaimall.^2 I hadneverseen

anythinglike it before.We hadtosneakout

theback.I mean,I tookvideosofthethou-

sands,hundredsofthousandsofpeopleat

themallinDubai.MymomandI lookedat

eachother—becauseI madehercomewith

me—andwewerelike,“Holyshit.What is

goingon?Amilkshakeplace?”

Whatelsehaschangedsince 20 10?

There’sa senseI have thatyou’vebeen

dressinga littlelesssexyrecently.

I sawthiswholethingwhereit’s like,

“She’s sodemure,andshe’s covered.” AndI

waslike,“Guys,I hada shearlingcoat on

anda turtleneckbecauseit’s freezing.” But

I thinkI havea littlebit.I don’t knowif it’s

thefactthat my husbandhasvoicedthat

sometimestoosexyis just overkillandhe’s

notcomfortablewiththat. I listentohim

andunderstandhim.Still,at theendofthe

day, healwaysgivesmethefreedomtobe

anddowhatI want.ButI havekindofhad

thisawakeningmyself.I realizedI could

notevenscrollthroughInstagraminfront

ofmykidswithoutfullnudity comingup

onmyfeedprettymuchallthetime.AndI

definitelycontributedtothat. I mean,one

ofmymost iconiccoverswasthePaper

magazine^3 one,whenI wasalloiledupand

rippingmydressoff. I alsodidthink,like,

Okay,I’mhereintheWhiteHouse^4 and

then the next day I was posting, like, a

crazy bikini selfie. And I was thinking, I

hope they don’t see this. I have to go back

there next week.

How has your relationship with Kanye

evolved?

The one consistent thing is our relation-

ship has never stopped being fun. And it’s

okay to not understand each other. It’s okay

tonothavethesameexactfeelingsallthe

time.It ’s just aboutfiguringouthowdowe

growfromthat?orwhat’s thelessonfrom

that?andgivingeachotherspaceandtime

tofigurethat out.

Youshouldseewhat he’s workingon

now.Allhomestuff.He’sfascinatedwith

buildingsandhomes.Hewantstodolow-

incomehousing^5 andhavethedesignbe

elevated:simpleandcoolandaffordable.

HereallysupportsJamesTurrell^6 andhis

Crater,and they’re working on stuff

togetherthat willbeexciting.He’sbuilding

thecommunity.

Therewasatweetfromthepolitical

reporterBenJacobsonOctober 29 , after

theArmeniangenocidewasofficiallyrec-

ognizedbyCongressforthefirsttime,

thatsaid,“KimKardashianisprobably

themostsuccessfulpolicyadvocatedur-

ingtheTrumpadministrationsofar.”I’m

sureyousawthat.

No!I hadmentionedthegenocideat the

WhiteHouse,tryingtofigureoutwhat had

beentheissue.Whyhaven’tpast presidents

wantedtocallit a genocide? OnlyRonald

Reagandidthat.It’ssuper-importantto

theArmenianpeople.I wasraisedreally

Armenian-American.I wenttoArmenia

andmetwiththeprimeminister,haddin-

nerwiththepresident,andthenI spoketo

JackieSpeier, ourcongresswoman.And

thevotewasa reallyhighnumberinfavor

of.[Tothechefwho’s servinglunch] Thank

you.Thisis allvegan?

chef:No.Thisis vegan,andthisis real

chicken.

kk:Oh!I waslike, that lookstoolifelike.

Toodelicious!That’s funny...Okay,so

youareabouttogovisitRodneyReed,

whoisondeathrowinTexas.

Hiscasepoppedupa fewmonthsago

onmycomputer, I thinkonTwitter.I

openedit rightafterI’d watcheda movie

that had me crying. It was Just Mercy,

about a wrongfully convicted man, and it

reminded me of Rodney’s story.^7 And I

was like, Oh my God, this is a sign. I have

to say something.

I am going to go and visit him on Friday.

My attorneys are in communication with

his attorneys and really helping out. I can

go because of my attorney-client privilege;

I’m in an internship program in law

school.^8 Hewillbemovedtothedeath

chambers,readyforexecution,whichis in

a differentsection—evenseparatefrom

deathrow. I’veneverbeentoanythinglike

thatbefore.I’vebeentodeathrowat San

Quentin.I amstillvery hopeful.Usually,

whentheydoa stayofexecution,it hap-

pensrightbeforetheexecution,^9 some-

timeshoursbefore.

Theawakeningofyouractivismfor

criminal-justicereform—isitrelatedto

thefactthatyou’renowthemotherof

fourAfrican-Americankids?

It definitelyhasa lottodowithit.I want

mychildrentohavea fairlife.AndI do

believethat racedoesplay a huge roleinthe

criminal-justicesystem,if youlookat all

thenumbers.Statistically,oneinthree

blackmenwillbelockedupintheirlife-

time.Sothatdoesweighheavyonmy

heart.I hadmany conversationswithmy

dadgrowingupaboutbeinganat torney

andwhat’s fairandwhat’snot,andmaybe

I wasreallysheltered,butI didn’t knowall

ofthiswasgoingon.I neverhada close

connectiontosomeonewhohadbeenin

prison—tounderstandhowthey treat you

thereandwhatreallygoeson.I don’t know

if that’s beingnaïve,if that’showI grew up.

I don’t know.

WhenI havevisitedtheWhiteHouse,if

I feellikesomethingisn’tfair, I’llsay

something,maybeprivately.Andif I can

planta seed,great.Everyonewassowor-

riedaboutme,aboutmyreputation,going

totheWhiteHouse,andit waslike,A life

ormyreputation?

I don’t carewhoit is.I’mjust gladsome-

oneis listeningandmakinga change. I hope

tohaveanamazingrelationshipwiththe

nextpresident.I hopetostillhavea voicefor

peopleontheinside,whodonotcareatall

whosignstheircommutationpaper.

7 In 1997,anall-whiteTexasjury

foundthethen-29-year-oldReed

guiltyof therapeandmurderof

StaceyStites.Aftera spermsample

containinghisDNAwasfoundinside

Stites’sbody, Reedsaidtheywere

havinga secretaffairbutmaintained

hisinnocence.Stites’sfiancé,a

policeofficerwitha historyof

violenceagainstwomen,hadbeen

theoriginalsuspect.

5 KanyeerectedStarWars–

inspireddomelikestructures

in orderto housethe

homelessonhis300-acre

compound.Neighbor

complaintsledcountyofficials

to discoverthatKanyehad

notsecuredtherequired

permitsto buildthestructures.

Bytheendof thesummer,the

domesweretorndown.

PREVIOUS SPREAD: MAKEUP BY CELEBRITY MAKEUP ARTIST MARIO DEDIVANOVIC; HAIR BY MICHAEL SILVA AT THE WALL GROUP USING R+CO HAIR CARE. THANK YOU TO THE RITZ-CARLTON NEW YORK, CENTRAL PARK. CATSUIT BY ALEXANDER WANG. EARRINGS BY TIFFANY & CO.

Turrell has spent

decades transforming

a cinder-cone crater in

an Arizona desert into

an observatory;

Kanye has donated

$10 million.

6