KIM KARDASHIAN

From sex tape to Oval Office via TV and Instagram

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Billionaire businesswoman, high priestess of social media, Oval Office invitee, effortless siren, mother of four: Kim Kardashian has mastered the 21st century like no one else.

For almost two decades, she has been a constant presence in popular culture, an ubercelebrity whose every move commands attention, yet who never seems to be anything other than in complete control.

While lesser stars have been consumed by fame, Kardashian remains at the height of her powers, defying criticism that she is really only famous for being famous.

Kardashian, 44, is expected to testify at a French trial beginning April 28 over a 2016 robbery that cost her millions of dollars worth of jewellery -- and in which she was held at gunpoint.

Six people are charged over the heist, which netted items including a diamond ring gifted by her then-husband, rapper Kanye West.

- Fame -

Born in Los Angeles on October 21, 1980, Kardashian spent her childhood on the periphery of fame.

By 1991, after her parents were divorced, her mother Kris married the 1976 Olympic decathlon winner then known as Bruce Jenner, who has since transitioned to life as Caitlyn.

A few years later, her father Robert was one of the high-flying lawyers who defended American football legend OJ Simpson in his 1995 murder trial.

As a teenage friend of Los Angeles socialites Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton, Kardashian garnered the first inklings of her own fame, being photographed with them at popular nightspots and appearing in their reality show "The Simple Life."