The most exciting drama to keep up with. Kim Kardashian‘s relationship with Kourtney Kardashian hasn’t always been smooth sailing.
The siblings — along with Kris Jenner, Caitlyn Jenner, Khloé Kardashian, Rob Kardashian, Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner — became household names with the premiere of Keeping Up With the Kardashians in 2007. The reality series put the blended brood under a microscope as they navigated ups and downs at work and at home.
Though the show focused on the entire family, Kim has often credited herself for their shared success. “It’s so funny, because I’ll hear stories like, ‘Kris Jenner is the puppet master, having all of her kids do this and that,’ and I’m like, ‘If they only knew,’” she told Editorialist magazine in 2016. “I’m the one that will be like, ‘Kylie, do this. Kendall, you should do this.’”
Kourtney poked fun at her sister’s comments three years later during the season 17 finale of KUWTK, in which the family dressed up as one another at Kris’ request. “I pretty much started this entire family. No one would be anywhere or anything without me,” she quipped to the camera in the December 2019 episode while imitating the Skims founder.
The playful moment came one year after one of the siblings’ biggest arguments to date. During season 15, Kim and Kourtney clashed over scheduling for a family photo shoot as Kourtney prioritized spending time with her children. (The Poosh founder shares Mason, Penelope and Reign with ex Scott Disick.)
“I’m leaving at 4 p.m. and I don’t care what anyone says,” Kourtney told Kim and Kris in the 2018 episode, to which the Selfish author fired back, “Get the f–k out of here, and go! No one wants you in the shoot.”
Despite Kris’ attempts to squash the disagreement, Kim continued: “Maybe if you had a business that you were passionate about then you would know what it takes to run a f–king business, but you don’t. So don’t even act like you know what I’m talking about. … She’s the least exciting to look at.”
The duo remained at odds over work ethic for several years as Kourtney considered hanging up her reality TV career for good. In 2020, their feud turned physical — causing Rob to compare his sisters to the cast of Bad Girls Club via Twitter.
As the family shifted to Hulu following the end of KUWTK, Kourtney opened up about her relationship with Kim. “The daily stuff to where I had the rage inside to scratch my sister or whatever, in the fight, I probably blacked out. … I felt like it was an intense time,” she said on a 2022 episode of the “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast.
The Lemme founder added: “I think some of us more than others feel the need to distance sometimes or just do our own thing, have our own thing. I love to keep my little bubble and as they say, ‘Protect your energy.’ And I just like to be in my own little world and enter it when I choose and then slip back in.”
While their drama appeared to dissipate, tensions rose once again during season 3 of The Kardashians. “I don’t want to fight with family — bottom line,” Kim declared in a May 2023 teaser, hinting at her argument with Kourtney over their respective ties to Dolce & Gabbana.
The Kourtney and Khloé Take Miami alum, meanwhile, claimed: “There’s no boundaries, there’s no respect.”
In a dramatic voiceover, Khloé appeared to remark on the family drama, saying, “The tension is brewing. How did we get here?”
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Scroll down for a look back at Kim and Kourtney’s highs and lows through the years:
