Meet Kim Kardashian’s Inner Circle: From Childhood BFFs to Celebrity Pals

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Meet Kim Kardashian’s Inner Circle: From Childhood BFFs to Celebrity Pals

Who keeps up? Though Kim Kardashian is one of the most famous women in the world, only a few people have managed to become part of her trusted inner circle. “I know I always say ‘my BFF,’ and I definitely have lots of them, but Allison [Statter] and I go way, way back,” the Skims founder said in a December 2020 video with her longtime friend, whom she met in elementary school. "I don’t know life without Kim," the Blended Strategy Group CEO explained. "You’ve just been such an amazing sister to me. It’s also just really comforting and really nice to be on the same path in life, too. We had our kids at the same time. We were, like, married with kids at the same time. … It’s rare and it’s unique, and I just feel so blessed that we have each other." Kardashian added: "Allison is, like, the first person that I would call if there was, like, a huge family drama. Like, before anyone." Another one of the Keeping Up With the Kardashians alum's closest pals is Jonathan Cheban, who she bonded with in 2009 after they sat together at a group dinner. "The only time we fought was on TV with my business partner," Cheban told the Daily Mail in August 2019. he argument in question, which also included the food influencer's former business partner, Simon Huck, played out during an episode of Kourtney and Khloé Take the Hamptons. "That’s the only time I didn’t answer her calls," Cheban recalled. “I was furious about it because I thought she was on his side. That’s the only time in 10 years, we literally don’t fight." [jwplayer F6CHKwgJ-zhNYySv2] Not all of Kardashian's friendships have been so drama-free, though. In November 2017, fans speculated that she had a major falling out with her former assistant, Stephanie Shepherd, after they stopped working together. "You guys, we’ve never had a feud,” Kardashian said in an August 2018 video posted to her app about the rumored fight. “She wanted to go in a different direction. I respect that. I love giving that encouragement to whoever I’m working with. People just took it, just because people stop working together doesn’t mean that they’re feuding and stop being friends." Shepherd echoed the reality star's denial later that month, telling Us Weekly exclusively, “I would’ve been freaking out if I knew it was true that we weren’t friends anymore. [But it's] just something you have to get used to." She continued: “You have to be confident enough in yourself and in your relationships, in your worth, in your truth. You can write anything and you have to be able to wake up and be like, ‘It doesn’t matter.’ ‘Cause you know your truth. And it’s hard. It’s much easier said than done.” Keep scrolling to learn more about Kardashian's close friends and confidantes: [podcast_block]

Credit: Courtesy of Tracy Romulus/Instagram

Tracy Romulus

Though she became the chief marketing officer at KKW Brands — the company that oversees KKW Beauty, Skims and KKW Fragrance — in September 2017, the businesswoman has actually been friends with Kardashian for over a decade. “The one thing I admire most about you is the fact that you are the same genuine person that I met that Monday night in NY 15 years ago,” Romulus gushed via Instagram in October 2021. “Still the most beautiful, kindest, smartest, funniest and most fun person in the room.”

Their close bond has even reached the next generation, as Romulus' daughter Ryan is one of Kardashian's daughter North's best friends.

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La La Anthony

Anthony, who first rose to fame in the early 2000s as an MTV VJ, has been close to the Selfish author for nearly 20 years. "[I ask Kim for style advice] all the time. It’s like, ‘What do you think of this, what do you think of that,’ as friends, you know, do," she told Life & Style in December 2018. "And she’s an amazing friend. She offers great advice, style tips."

She continued: “We’re always that to each other and I think you’re always gonna be that to your friends, you’re always gonna offer support. ... We’re friends. We’re always there for each other no matter what."

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Stephanie Shepherd

Shepherd worked as Kardashian's assistant for four years before the pair went their separate ways in November 2017. Though rumors of a feud spread after Refinery29 profiled Shepherd in May 2017, the KKW Beauty founder denied that there was any bad blood between them. “Please stop with this fake narrative. She was NEVER my nemesis,” the reality star wrote via her Instagram Story in September 2018. "We simply stopped working together but we have always remained super close friends." In October 2021, Shepherd was backstage at Saturday Night Live to support Kardashian as she made her hosting debut.

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Mario Dedivanovic

Kardashian and the makeup artist have been close for over a decade, long before either one of them had their own cosmetics lines or attended A-List events. The pair reflected on their friendship during an April 2022 episode of Hulu's The Kardashians while holding back tears. "Seeing Mario [get] so emotional [about me hosting SNL] just reminds me of when his agency told him not to work with me because I was just a 'reality star,'" Kardashian told cameras. "And that he was never going to have a career if he was my makeup artist, and he told them basically to go f--k themselves."

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Khloé Kardashian

Kim has become particularly close to her younger sister after they welcomed daughters Chicago and True within months of one another in 2018. "Once I got pregnant that’s when [Kim] and I became so close and I was fearful we were going to drift apart once I had the baby but we did not," the Good American cofounder wrote via Twitter in March 2020.

Credit: Courtesy of Alison Statter/Instagram

Alison Statter

Statter has been one of Kim's best friends since they met in elementary school. “To me, Kim is just Kim. So I don’t look at her and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, my famous friend Kim,'" she said in a December 2020 video. "Like, I can honestly say that you have not changed." The pals also collaborated on a collection for KKW Beauty in August 2020 that featured photos from their decades-long friendship on the packaging.

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Jonathan Cheban

The food influencer met Kim at a group dinner in 2009, and in the decades since, he has frequently been by her side at events and while filming Keeping Up With the Kardashians. "Everyone is just really loyal," he told the Daily Mail in August 2019 about the famous family. "They always deliver, no one ever flakes, even at this stage [of their fame]. Everyone is on time."

He continued: "If Kim calls me, I pick up the phone, whenever it is. If I email her, she’ll respond a minute later, even with four kids, same with Kris [Jenner]. It’s very normal. Everyone is still there for each other."

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Chrissy Teigen

After meeting on a double date with John Legend and Kim's then-boyfriend, Reggie Bush, the California native and the Cravings author quickly became friends. "The night Chrissy and I first met, we bonded in the bathroom while she helped zip me up,” Kim wrote on her app in 2016, per E! News. “We became good friends pretty fast after that, LOL!”

Teigen shared her perspective of that evening in an August 2016 video. "I remember this because I was so nervous to meet you. I don’t know. I’d been watching. I knew all about you. I felt kind of like a weirdo," the former model said at the time. "You made me feel so much better because we went to the bathroom and you had me zip you up. [I was like,] ‘Oh, my gosh! She has spanx on. She’s cool. She’s normal.'"

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Amy Schumer

"[Kim] is a support system and I hope I’m one for her, too," the comedian said during an April 2022 interview with Andy Cohen. The Trainwreck star also helped Kim craft her monologue for her SNL hosting debut, which was chronicled on The Kardashians. "I think she did amazing. ... I said just talk to everybody like they are your friends and I think she took that to heart,” Schumer said. "But I think she really followed her own advice and her own instincts, which is what we should all do and she just killed it. I learned from her that night."