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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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Ex-Stepmom Claims Kardashians Defamed Her

(CN) - The Kardashians falsely accused their former stepmother of leaking unflattering details about their mother, Kris Jenner, in a "carefully scripted" episode of their "reality" TV show, Ellen Kardashian claims in court.

The widow of Robert Kardashian - father of reality TV siblings Kim, Khloe, Kourtney and Rob - claims the family hired a "shadowy 'private investigator'" in March "to entice Ellen into an unsavory scheme to 'buy' damaging information about herself and Jenner."

Ellen claims she refused to take the bait, foiling the phony drama of the family's scripted reality show, "Keeping Up with the Kardashians."

In the second episode of season eight, called "Enough Is Enough," Kim and Khloe meet with the private investigator, who "ultimately 'reveals' negative information about Ellen" but not about Jenner, Ellen claims in Los Angeles Superior Court.

"The episode was crafted and scripted as a form of 'damage control' when unflattering details were released to the public which ran contrary to the image Jenner has attempted to portray on 'Keeping Up with the Kardashians' as a loving and caring mother who constantly sacrifices for her children," Ellen claims.

"These details came directly from the diaries and letters of Robert Kardashian, Jenner's former husband," she adds. "Robert exposed Jenner as a manipulative and devious mother and ex-wife who simply used and exploited her children."

In the episode, which first aired June 9, they tried to spin Robert's "exceptionally negative opinion" of Jenner by claiming his greedy widow made it all up, Ellen says.

She claims the family then filed a "manufactured lawsuit" against her in Federal Court to perpetuate the scheme orchestrated by the Kardashians, Jenner and the show's producers, Bunim-Murray Productions Inc., Ryan Seacrest Productions and Jenner Communications Inc.

"This shameful rewriting of history by the Kardashian siblings, at the direction and behest of Jenner, Seacrest, and [Bunim-Murray Productions], was motivated by profit and is an insult to the legacy of their own father," Ellen claims in her lawsuit.

She says she married their father, famed attorney Robert Kardashian, on July 23, 2003, after he was diagnosed with a fatal form of esophageal cancer.

She claims the June 9 episode tried to depict her "as a liar who manipulated Robert Kardashian into marrying her," when in fact she "remained a devoted partner and helped care for Robert as his health declined."

She says the Kardashians came to their father's wedding, and the girls even accepted diamond necklaces bought them as keepsakes.

Ellen denies the Kardashians' alleged claim that she propped up and married Robert on his deathbed. Jenner stated in the episode that Ellen "propped him (Robert) up on a pillow, basically in his own bed and married him in his pajamas," according to the lawsuit.

Before the episode aired, Khloe allegedly tweeted, "How can such a piece of trash even mention my father's name? You married him in his deathbed while he was not even aware of his surroundings."

In another tweet, she accused her father's widow of peddling "false stories" to make money after filling for bankruptcy, the lawsuit states.

Ellen says the Kardashians circulated these lies as part of the scripted drama of their show.

"While Robert was clearly ill, he was not on his deathbed, nor was he 'propped' up for the wedding," Ellen says.

The show, which premiered on the E! Network in 2004, follows the decadent lives of the Kardashians and their blended family with actor Bruce Jenner.

"The success of the series is predicated entirely on the revelation of private information of the most salacious nature, the degree and scale of which must continue to escalate in order to maintain public interest," according to the lawsuit.

The Kardashians' stepmother is suing for alleged defamation, public disclosure of private facts, intentional infliction of emotional distress and civil conspiracy to defame.

She is represented by Arnold Peter and Marcus Lee of the Peter Law Group.

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