All About Laughs
Kim Kardashian is very much a superstar who no matter where she steps foot on the planet, chances are close to everybody will know her name. The title “superstar” being attached to her name, however, was not something that she wanted to embrace when it was the title to the 2007 adult tape with Ray J that “leaked”, ultimately springing her forward into the Internet stratosphere as huge entity she is now. Fans would be surprised that she’s still benefitting from that very tape in a massive way.
Back in October of 2002, Kim Kardashian and her then-boyfriend, R&B singer Ray J, were vacationing in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, when it all happened. Beforehand, she had been serving as a personal stylist to his sister, Brandy. Kardashian and another elite socialite, Paris Hilton, were also the best of friends.
During this vacation, 21-year-old Ray J would often film their experiences and antics and the two would be seen “goofing around” as many couples do. They also filmed themselves having sex, which would later be the reason Kardashian was catapulted into the spotlight. Soon news would circulate that there was a tape being spread. “There is no tape being shopped,” Kim once said to TMZ, “Ray J and I remain friends, and there is nothing he would do to spite me.”
In 2007, a 41-minute tape dubbed “Kim Kardashian: Superstar” was publicly released via Vivid Entertainment, who paid $1 million to acquire the rights. It would eventually become one of, if not the most-watched adult film. The Kardashian family would claim it an embarrassment that something public could and would be leaked to the world and attempted a lawsuit directed to Vivid. The suit would eventually be settled out of court for millions.
Of course, the tape’s leak birthed multiple conspiracies. including the one that her mother helped to orchestrate the tape’s release. It didn’t make things any better when just mere months after the tape’s release, Keeping Up With The Kardashians began to air on E! This is a claim the Kardashian clan vehemently deny, with Kim Kardashian telling Oprah once in 2012, “like, I really had to work ten times harder to get people to see the real me … and [I humiliated my family].”
But a tell-all on the Kardashians in the form of a book penned by author Ian Halperin claims otherwise. Halperin states that it was all a ploy in attempts for Kim to achieve more fame. “A mutual friend of Kim and Paris [Hilton] had advised her that if she wanted to achieve fame, a s*x tape would be the way to go . . . Kim had discussed the idea of producing a tape with her family beforehand,” Halperin writes in Kardashian Dynasty as reported by Page Six.
Halperin adds, “It was Kris [Jenner] who engineered the deal behind the scenes and was responsible for the tape seeing the light of day[…] I can tell you right now. Kim Kardashian’s movie came out in ’07, and she’s made millions.” The Kardashians have also refuted these claims.
What does ring true, however, is the fact that she has indeed seen an increase in her bank roll. On the tenth anniversary of the s*x tape, Pornhub.com celebrated the “monumental release of Kim K and Ray J” by offering some stats.
“Happy 10 year anniversary to our #1 p**nstar @KimKardashian on her p**n debut,” P**nhub tweeted, according to TooFab.com. They also share that Ray J brings in about $90k in royalties every quarter, bringing the total to around $360,000 yearly. It’s being reported that Kim Kardashian makes around the same figure, if not more.
Talk about turning a situation around for profit.
