Why Khloé Kardashian Resents Her Old ‘Plus-Size’ Label
People call Khloé Kardashian lots of things — after all, she and her family’s exploits make tabloid headlines daily. But she does have one request: Don’t call her plus-size.
The reality TV star sat down for a chat with Fortune‘s Leena Rao at the magazine’s Most Powerful Women Next Gen Summit on Wednesday to discuss her denim line, Good American. In the interview, Kardashian tells Rao she decided to join business partner Emma Grede because she wanted to do “something that empowers other women and something that is really going to break down barriers.”
Kardashian also touched on the way people used to speak about her body, saying that she didn’t appreciate it when people would describe her as plus-size. “I used to be someone that they would label as plus-size, and I’m like f*** that! I don’t want to be called that!” she said. “I’m a woman with curves, and I’m what I would say was average size at the time. And I was very proud of who I was, and I felt so shamed at the time to go into boutiques or go denim shopping.”
Kardashian stressed that she always felt proud of her figure, even though some people wanted to put her in a category she felt she didn’t fit into, just because she was bigger than a sample size. She also talked about how difficult it was to find clothes that fit her when she went shopping with her sisters.
“When I was bigger, you couldn’t tell me I was big — and I still don’t think I was big. I know I was bigger than I am now, but I was like, ‘I am sexy, and hot, and I want to be in a body-con dress and a pair of jeans,’ and that was just me. I think you should be comfortable and confident in your own skin,” she said. “But when I used to go shopping with my sisters, we would go to boutiques, and we liked the high-end denim. And I remember if I needed like a 31, they would be like, ‘Oh, 31, let me go check in the back,’ and come back like, ‘We don’t have that size here.’ It would always make me feel superembarrassed to go shopping with my sisters, who are petite.”
Kardashian isn’t the only celebrity to reject the plus-size label. Back in April, Amy Schumer posted an image to Instagram from Glamour‘s “Chic At Any Size” issue, which listed her on the cover as one of the “women who inspire us.” “I think there’s nothing wrong with being plus size. Beautiful healthy women,” she wrote. “Plus size is considered size 16 in America. I go between a size 6 and an 8. @glamourmag put me in their plus size only issue without asking or letting me know and it doesn’t feel right to me. Young girls seeing my body type thinking that is plus size? What are your thoughts? Mine are not cool glamour not glamourous.”
When Robyn Lawley was heralded as the first plus-size model to be featured in Sports Illustrated’s 2015 Swimsuit Issue, the size-12 beauty noted she had already expressed her thoughts on the label. “… It’s ludicrous to call me plus size and I’ve stated that publicly pretty much every step of the way of my career,” she said in a Facebook post.
As for Kardashian, she told Fortune that she’s been happy with herself at every size. “I love me big, and I love me small, I don’t have a problem with me either way,” she said. “I’m living a more healthy lifestyle where I like to be active and focus on working out … I don’t think a 31 is even a big size.”
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