Kim Kardashian West has maintained a successful career as a television personality since 2007. Still, there was one point she believed she had hit rock bottom, and it was following her divorce from NBA player Kris Humphries.
After filing for divorce from the athlete in 2011, the Keeping Up with the Kardashians star encountered a ton of backlash over their 72-day marriage. So much so, that she was convinced her and her family’s days as A-list celebrities were numbered.
Kim Kardashian West and Kris Humphries began dating in 2010
Kardashian and Humphries first sparked dating rumors toward the end of 2010 after the reality star was spotted sitting courtside at one of the NBA player’s basketball games.
At the time, no one could tell for sure whether the pair were dating or not. However, just a few days after Kardashian’s spotting, she and Humphries made their first public appearance together.
But despite their public outing, Kardashian denied dating Humphries for the first few months of their relationship. Then in February 2011, the pair celebrated Humphries’ 26th birthday together. By April of that year, the athlete was already accompanying Kardashian and her family on vacations, which was evidence enough that they were officially a couple.
The pair got married and divorced within the same year
After just a few short months of dating, Humphries proposed to Kardashian with a 20-carat, $2 million engagement ring in May 2011 — and she said yes.
Three months later, the couple tied the knot during a lavish wedding ceremony in front of 400 guests. The entire affair was caught on camera and aired during a two-part KUWTK television special in October 2011.
RELATED: The Real Reason Kim Kardashian’s Friends and Family Never Wanted Her to Marry Kris Humphries
However, that same month, rumors that things weren’t working out between them began to surface. Then on October 31, 2011, Kardashian filed for divorce from the athlete citing irreconcilable differences.
Even though they appeared to be a perfect match, many people knew early on that Kardashian and Humphries weren’t meant to be.
Even the reality star revealed during a 2017 appearance on Bravo’s Watch Watch Happens Live that she knew as early as their honeymoon that her marriage to Humphries was far from a fairytale.
“At the time I just thought, ‘Holy sh*tt, I’m 30 years old. I better get this together. I better get married.’ I think a lot of girls do go through that, where they freak out thinking they’re getting old and all their friends are having kids,” she admitted. “So it was more of that situation. But I knew on the honeymoon it wasn’t going to work out.”
Kim Kardashian thought her failed 72-day marriage to Humphries would negatively affect her career
After their divorce was announced, many began to question whether the couple’s marriage was the real deal or if it was just a money-making publicity stunt.
Seeing as Kardashian earned $175,000 for the exclusive engagement announcement, $1.1 million for the wedding photos, and $1 million from airing her wedding on E!, it was believed that she used the marriage to make a hefty profit.
And since the wedding itself attracted the most viewers in E!‘s history, many saw the marriage as just a ploy to rake in views for KUWTK.
With all of the negative media coverage surrounding Kardashian and Humphries’ marriage, the KKW Beauty mogul found herself questioning her future as a television personality.
She even believed that her — and her family’s — career was “over” following her divorce from the NBA player.
“At the time when I was going through the divorce, I did say to everyone, ‘You guys I think our careers are over,” she told Sir Martin Sorrell in an interview for The Drum in 2015. “‘I hope you’ve saved your money. I totally thought it was over.”
Though she believed the marriage and divorce were going to ruin her, they clearly did the opposite as Kardashian was and still is one of the most popular celebrities in the world.