Kim Kardashian West talks path to becoming a lawyer and new shapewear line
Kim Kardashian West spoke about her interest in criminal justice reform during an appearance on "Good Morning America" Wednesday.
The businesswoman and reality star, who is studying to become an attorney, revealed how her role as a mother and the importance of family in her life influenced her decision to study law.
Kardashian has four children, North, 6, Saint, 4, Chicago, 2, and 8-month-old Psalm, with her husband, Kanye West.
"I think what drew me to Miss Alice Johnson was just knowing that, you know, a decision she made tore apart her whole family," Kardashian shared, mentioning the Memphis grandmother she helped free from prison in 2018. Johnson, a first-time offender, had been serving a life sentence on drug charges until her sentence was commuted by President Donald Trump.
"She has so many brothers and sisters and kids and grand kids and so I really put myself in her situation thinking, well, what would I have done if I had to feed my children and knowing that a bad choice changed her whole life really made me feel for her and understand her," Kardashian continued.
"I feel like she put a face for criminal justice and reform," she added.
Kardashian said Johnson was one of the reasons she wanted to create her new Oxygen project, titled, "Kim Kardashian West: The Justice Project."
"I picked cases with completely different situations where very traumatic things have happened -- anything from sex trafficking to murders, where if you see what happened to them or what they have done on paper, you would not understand."
She continued, "But once you hear their story and feel like you see what led them to make those choices, you realize that we're not really different from them."
In 2019, Kardashian announced she is studying for the bar exam, while doing a four-year apprenticeship. She plans to take the bar exam in 2022 to get her law degree, without going to law school, as California permits.
She gave an update on how her journey to becoming a lawyer is going.
"I mean it's so hard," she admitted. "I just finished year one. I'm about to take the baby bar in a few months, which is a necessity in order to continue on for the next three years in California, so it feels good having finished year one. It's very hard."
She said she manages to get her studying in despite an intensely busy schedule. "That's in my afternoons," she said on when she puts in the work. "I go to the office ... and then I do my extra reading at home at about 9 p.m. From 9 to 11."
Her law practice has assisted in all areas of her life, including in growing her businesses and partnerships.
She is launching a new partnership for her shapewear company, SKIMS, with Nordstrom Wednesday.
"I read over every contract now -- it's what I'm studying -- and it makes a lot of sense now to me," she shared. "Had I gone to school when, you know, years ago when I should have, it wouldn't have meant as much as it does to me and I wouldn't have been as into it as I am because now everything that I go through -- personal injury law, everything -- it all makes sense to me now and I love it."
Another element she puts special focus on in her businesses is inclusivity, especially with SKIMS, as she wants her shapewear to fit every body.
"I would always cut up my own shapewear. I would dye them. I would put them in a sink and put tea bags and coffee bags to make them a little bit darker skin tone," she explained. "So if I couldn't find shapewear that was my skin tone, what is my daughter going to find when she grows up and needs shapewear?"
"So I wanted to make a variety of a shade range that I didn't feel like was out there in the marketplace, and I've always worn shapewear so I just wanted to modernize it and make it a little more comfortable and more durable," she described, noting she "put so much into it."
After "Good Morning America" co-anchor Michael Strahan expressed some interest in shapewear for men, Kardashian teased, "Soon, maybe soon. We're working on it."
