From runway to reality TV! Shark Tank’s Daymond John has invested in numerous products over his successful career, but there is one in particular that really took off: The Kardashians. Us Weekly caught up with the FUBU creator who revealed that he gave Kim Kardashian a shot at walking in their first runway show in 2007. Watch the video above!
“Kim and I and Khloé and Kourtney, we all started the same time in front of the camera. I put them on their first runway show with my friends and my partners Richie Rich and Traver Raines and Heatherette, when I was a partner in Heatherette,” John told Us Weekly. “Nobody wanted Kim to walk the runway and me and Trav and Richie Rich put her on there and that’s when she started to take off.”
John, 48, went on to do product placement for the famous family on their hit reality show Keeping up with the Kardashians, but admits that he’s somewhat surprised at the level of fame they have attained.
“Kris [Jenner] is determined and all the girls … they are thick as thieves. They are a very tight family unit and they are dedicated to work,” the author told Us. “I never thought that the world would take to them like they did. I’m very happy, because they deserve it. Very, very hardworking family and I just adore them.”
John still keeps in touch with the family, but like the Kardashians, he is busy with several projects of his own. Shark Tank has been renewed for its 10th season and the entrepreneur, who is cancer free after undergoing treatment for thyroid cancer in 2017, has released his new book Rise and Grind (Tuesday, January 23), which features winning secrets from different individuals, including Bethenny Frankel and Catherine Zeta-Jones, on how to succeed.
“This is the exact recipe and the details on what so many people do who are successful and what they do the first 90 minutes of the day, the last 90 minutes of the day, how they stay on the offense and not on the defense,” John told Us Weekly. “And you’ll find so many commonalities throughout these people like Tyler the Creator or Carlos Santana or Catherine Zeta Jones.”
