Kardashian Apps Go Dark, America’s Most Public Family Leaves Internet As Lamar Odom Crisis Lingers
As the Kardashian family continues to wait to learn the fate of Kardashian-by-marriage Lamar Odom, the family has had to make a number of sacrifices to their normal publicity-generating routines, and in the latest such cutback, the Kardashians announced that they will temporarily stop updating their various smartphone apps during “this difficult time.”
The Kardashian clan just last month launched a series of such apps, containing regularly updated content so that fans of the women and their reality TV show Keeping Up With the Kardashians can receive constant, 24/7 access to the latest Kardashian activities — as well as beauty tips and even dating advice from the Kardashian women, including Kylie and Kendall Jenner, daughters of matriarch Kris Kardashian and her former husband Bruce Jenner, who has since undergone a gender transition and is now known as Caitlyn Jenner.
But America’s most public family, whose entire fame is based on their willingness to lay bare almost every aspect of their intimate personal lives, albeit in a carefully stage-managed and publicity-generating fashion, are now demanding privacy as the estranged husband of 29-year-old Khloe Kardashian lies in a coma in a Las Vegas, Nevada, hospital.
Former NBA basketball star Lamar Odom was discovered unconscious after an overdose of various drugs, including an “herbal” erectile-dysfunction remedy as well as cocaine, at a legal brothel in Nevada on Tuesday. On Friday, according to a CNN report, Odom regained consciousness long enough to recognize Khloe Kardashian at his hospital bedside and greet her with a simple “Hi.”
“As a family, we’ve decided to hold off on publishing content across our apps while we continue to support and pray for Lamar,” wrote Khloe Kardashian on her personal website Friday, quoted by the Hollywood Reporter. “Thank you for your kindness and understanding during this difficult time.”
The same statement appeared on the sites of other Kardashian family members, including Kim Kardashian and the two Jenner sisters declaring that the paid-subscription apps would be left without new content during the Lamar Odom crisis.
Though Odom and Khloe Kardashian are separated, they remain legally married, leaving the Kardashian sister in control of medical decisions made in Odom’s case as long as the former Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers star stays incapacitated.
According to a report in Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper, Odom — allegedly engaged in a weekend sex-and-drugs binge at the Love Ranch brothel — was heard by some of the prostitutes employed there on an angry “rant” against the Kardashian family, who he blamed for engineering his split from Khloe Kardashian and forcing him out of the family.
But that same Kardashian family now keeps a vigil at the Las Vegas hospital where Odom now clings to life.
The Kardashian family shot to fame in 2007 after what they claimed was the unauthorized release of an explicit videotape showing Kim Kardashian in sexual relations with a then-boyfriend.
The sex tape was quickly followed by the debut of their reality show, Keeping Up With The Kardashians on the E! cable network — a show that purported to take viewers inside the daily lives of the wealthy, Beverly Hills family, and introduced the United States audience to Kim Kardashian’s various family members, including Khloe.
But with the Lamar Odom crisis, the Kardashian family is now pleading with the media and the public for privacy.
“This is a family going through a traumatic experience. It’s not content for a reality show. It’s a life lingering in limbo,” marketing expert Marvet Britto told NBC News.
Tune into Kylie radio today in 30 mins. @jordynwoods is taking over. #airjordyn
— Kylie Jenner (@KylieJenner) October 15, 2015
Not every member of the Kardashian clan was completely on board with the moratorium on publicity, however. On Thursday, Kylie Jenner took to Twitter to promote her upcoming radio program, though whether she had stopped any updates to apps as well remains to be seen.
[Featured Image: Steven Lawton / Getty Images]
