Kim Kardashian’s former assistant Stephanie Shepherd is setting the record straight about what led to the end of their working relationship.
“Well, I got fired. Fired in the nicest sense of the word,” Shepherd, 34, revealed during an episode of “The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast” last month. “Like, I was crying and she was crying because we are friends.”
Shepherd recalled feeling like she was no longer fulfilled by her role as COO of Kardashian West Brands.
“I just inherently felt like, ‘It is time to move on. I don’t know if I have anything more I can contribute to this.’ I think she probably felt that and saw that,” she noted. “[So] she’s like, ‘I want you to [thrive]. You need something more. You have this thing — pursue that. I’m supporting you [with] whatever you need.'”
Shepherd had moved up the ladder at the company before Us Weekly exclusively confirmed in 2017 that Kardashian, 43, and Shepherd parted ways professionally after working together for four years.
An insider told Us at the time that Kardashian’s decision was motivated by Shepherd’s Refinery29 profile earlier that year, in which she discussed working for the reality star.
“Stephanie started thinking she was a celebrity herself, and Kim didn’t like that. Everything started going downhill after the Refinery29 article came out,” the source said. “Stephanie does still hang out with the family, and Kim and her are cordial when they see each other, but it’s different.”
A second source, meanwhile, told Us there was no feud between the duo, adding, “Kim respects Steph and wants her to do well.”
Shepherd previously discussed her conflicted thoughts about her job during a 2017 episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, venting to Kourtney Kardashian. Kim, for her part, later cleared the air about where she stands with Shepherd.
“She wanted to go in a different direction. I respect that. I love giving that encouragement to whoever I’m working with,” Kim said in a video with Shepherd in August 2018. “Just because people stop working together doesn’t mean that they’re feuding and stop being friends.”
Shepherd agreed with the sentiment and pointed out that she was in contact with Kim “every week” after moving in a different direction in her career. During her “Skinny Confidential” podcast appearance, Shepherd praised Kim for how she approached the firing.
“It was the most beautiful uncoupling and we have never been closer. She is still someone that I go to for personal and professional advice all the time,” she detailed. “But I think it was just that feeling inside where I was like, ‘OK, it’s time for me to move on.’ And I didn’t really have a plan. But I just knew that it was time for me to try something different.”
The former assistant admitted she’s confused about why her past employment with Kim is still being brought up, noting, “It was a long time ago. It’s really also interesting to be identified for a job that I had 10 years ago.”
Earlier in the episode, Shepherd shared the biggest lessons she learned from working for Kim.
“It’s a machine and it is meticulous. I always say it is my graduate school,” she explained. “Because I learned everything that I know about sending an email to an agent or speaking to a manager or booking glam or finding a photographer or dealing with product development or working with a publicist … Every single step of everything that you have to know about being an entrepreneur in the entertainment business I learned from working under Kim.”
