HYIER REAL

As Kim Kardashian prepared to launch her latest mega-enterprise, Skims Mens, she spent a lot of time revisiting the memory of her father, the late Robert Kardashian. Here, Kim joins her mother and sisters to talk about his great style, his last days, and how, 20 years after his death, he continues to shape her life and work.

- SEAN MANNING

KIM KARDASHIAN STILL remembers her father telling her about the time, not long after the O.J. Simpson trial, when he went to see a psychic. The trial had been a difficult period for Robert Kardashian, who hadn't practiced law in years. But back in the late '60s, he and Simpson had become close friends at the University of Southern California, and when, in June of 1994, the former football star was charged with the double murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman, Robert agreed to join his legal defense team, mostly as a liaison between Simpson and his other lawyers. The trial thrust Robert and his family into the public eye for nearly a year, an exhausting level of scrutiny. Then he started receiving death threats. So one afternoon he sought out a seer to find out what the fates had in store for his family.

The meeting went against his nature. A devout Christian, he'd always heeded the Bible's warning against psychics and mediums. But now here he was, listening to a prophecy that was so outlandish that it confirmed his suspicions. "She saw my last name and said, 'Kardashian will be internationally known," Robert later told Kim. "This is how I know they're full of shit!"

Kim Kardashian recalls this as we sit on the couches in her Calabasas, California, business headquarters-a contemplative space that feels more like an art gallery. She wears black lounge pants, a black hoodie, and a white tank-all by Skims, the label she cofounded in 2019. This isn't her first business: She's also launched two beauty lines, several perfumes, an energy drink, a mobile game, and a private equity fund. But this may be her biggest phenomenon yet (not counting, of course, her family's reality TV shows, which have aired 24 seasons to date).