SAN DIEGO February 11, 2012 – When we last visited the saga of Kim Kardashian’s 72 day train wreck of a marriage, rumors about the reality show star’s breakup with professional athlete Kris Humphries turned out to be true, announced on a national radio show by American Idol host Ryan Seacrest, confirmed by gossip mongers TMZ.com and finally verified with an “official” statement to E! News.
I said at the time that this marriage was all about the Kardashian celebrity business machine. But many people were still willing to give Kim and Kris the benefit of the doubt and believe it just didn’t work out for the two of them.
Fast-forward three months, which is longer than the original marriage lasted. Now we learn from Kris Humphries’ attorney Lee Hutton that he intends to expose Kim Kardashian’s real motives for the marriage, proving in court that she just wanted big ratings for her reality TV show.
Kris Humphries wants to air out his divorce with Kim Kardashian on reality TV. Photo: CarterMatt.com
Kardashian filed for divorce due to irreconcilable differences, and the couple could have reached a settlement agreement through mediation, behind closed doors.
Perish the thought.
Humphries says he wants an annulment, on grounds that Kardashian committed fraud by marrying him strictly as material for her reality media career, to get endorsements, sell products and otherwise fuel the celebrity machines that is All Things Kardashian.
Here’s the kicker: Both Kardashian and Humphries plan to ask the judge in their case to allow TMZ, E! Television and other networks to broadcast their divorce proceedings.
Please. If you had any doubts up to this minute about whether this marriage was anything more than a business transaction done for the publicity, they should be gone by now. But the record needs to be corrected on one front. It seemed like Humphries got eaten alive by the Kardashian machine, but he learned a thing or two being in their orbit. The publicity has made him famous and marketable and he'll make millions more than he would have otherwise.
It is no coincidence this announcement comes just two weeks after Humphries fired his previous public relations firm, reportedly due to a “major disagreement” over the long-term strategy for Humphries’ post-marriage game plan and his “off the court career.” Humphries turned around and hired a New York-based PR firm. It was just a little over two weeks later that Humphries announced his desire to see his divorce proceedings become the ultimate reality TV show.
According to TMZ.com – and laugh if you will, but this organization nearly always gets its facts right – Kardashian has a long, complex prenuptial agreement in place that has provisions covering numerous possible outcomes well into the future. When someone lives a complicated life like Kardashian, that agreement was probably as difficult to put into place as a nuclear arms agreement. Some people theorize this means she always intended to get out of the marriage quickly. While the existence of a prenuptial agreement isn’t necessarily evidence of a pre-planned exit strategy, in this case it lends more weight to this theory. Nothing about the Kardashian/Humphries marriage follows any standard rules of engagement (so to speak).
From perfume to prenups, Kim Kardashian is all business.
It’s hard to top staging a $10 million wedding with People Magazine exclusives and reality TV licensing rights, the boulder sized ring and the Vera Wang wedding gown, but a reality TV divorce would do it. You have to hand it to them, the Kardashians find a way to top themselves.
I remain concerned about the long-term societal consequences of this ongoing saga. It is a supreme irony that critics believe same-sex marriage is a threat to the institution. It is the Kim Kardashians and Kris Humphries of the world that are the real threat to the institution of marriage. Crazy celebrity marriages built on nothing more than headline-making weddings intended to do nothing more than generate publicity and profit in a very public way are the danger, not two loving people who happen to be the same gender who want to get married.
Which of these scenarios upholds the sanctity of marriage? Two professional men living quietly in the suburbs who pay taxes, obey the law, attend church, support charitable causes, and who have been together in sickness and in health for 30 years? Or two rich, self-centered, spoiled celebrities who do nothing without a camera in tow and a price tag attached, duping all of America as they watch a purely fictional wedding staged for our entertainment and their profit?
Perhaps the silver lining to the Kardashian/Humphries divorce is the contrast it will provide as a backdrop to the ongoing fight for marriage equality, particularly as the recent ruling in California seems headed to the United States Supreme Court.
Myra Chack Fleischer founded Fleischer & Associates in 2001 and serves as Lead Counsel with a focus on divorce, property, custody and support, settlement agreements, mediation, asset division and family law appeals. Read more Legally Speaking in the Communities at The Washington Times. Follow Fleischer & Associates on Facebook and on Twitter @LawyerMyra
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