Kim Kardashian discusses abolishing the death penalty, the end of KUWTK, and why she’s ‘punk’

Keeping Up with the Kardashians star Kim Kardashian revealed her biggest goal, if and when she passes the California State Bar in 2024, would be to end the death penalty.

‘Abolishing the death penalty is, like, so high up my list,’ the 40-year-old aspiring lawyer told Vogue on Sunday night.

‘And as I have clients that, you know, have gone through close situations like Julius Jones in Oklahoma City that I’m really fighting for. It really makes you stop and just feel that you can’t sit still until they right all of these wrongs.’  

Kim reportedly spends 18 hours a week studying law under the guidance of Jessica Jackson, Van Jones, and Erin Haney so she can eventually start her own law firm.

Kardashian is following the footsteps of her late father – OJ Simpson defense attorney Robert Kardashian Sr. – who died, age 59, from esophageal cancer in 2003 when she was only 22.

It’s the end of an era for the criminal reform advocate, whose 20th (and final) season of Keeping Up with the Kardashians premieres this Thursday on E!

‘It’s really crazy to look back and just to think 20 seasons. That’s a long time,’ Kim marveled.

‘I think my most emotional time was when we told our crew that we weren’t going to go forward after season 20. I think I was also super emotional when my audio girl [Erin Paxton] gave me my mic. She gave me my original mic that I started with and gave every family member – exactly how it was labeled…And it’s just really special.’

Kardashian’s voice, or rather vocal fry, has drastically changed since the first season back in 2007.

‘I know! That’s the biggest mystery to me and my sisters. We are blown away. We have no idea what happened to our voices,’ the reality star laughed.

‘We have completely different voices. I look back and I think, oh my god, there’s so many embarrassing things that are on TV for the world to see. But then you have to kind of, just, understand that I’m so grateful for also the evolution because I’ve learned so much. So I’m happy that we were able to be on for so long for people to see that.’

On December 10, Kim and her famous family signed a new multi-year global content deal with Hulu/Star, which starts streaming in late 2021.

Kardashian was first introduced to the idea of punk by Burberry CCO Riccardo Tisci, who dressed her for the Met Gala’s Punk: Chaos to Couture in 2013.

The half-Armenian beauty was pregnant with her first child when she donned the floral Givenchy maternity gown that spawned a million memes which left her in tears.

‘I would’ve done anything to go, so I was just happy to be dressed up. So we had that conversation and he was just like, “F*** it. You’re punk. It is what it is,”‘ Kim recalled.

‘And I get that. And as I’m, I think, more confident in myself I get that more. And I think punk is just an attitude of, like, not giving a f*** about – but not being not mindful of people and their feelings. It doesn’t mean that you’re, like, a total a**hole; it just means you live your life your way and beat to your own drum, and hopefully that inspires people to want to do that for themselves.’

One of Kardashian’s proudest moments was when Martha Stewart, whom she met at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in 2012, told her she ‘loved’ her shapewear brand, SKIMS.

‘I’ll never forget it. I’m obsessed with Martha Stewart,’ the KKW Beauty/SKIMS CEO gushed.

‘I always try to see what I’m obsessed with and what’s a necessity in my life. And if it’s not perfect, how can I try to make something that is? And the one huge gap that I feel like was missing in shapewear was just color range.

‘Honestly, I just thought, this doesn’t make sense. There’s so many different skin tones. If I can’t find mine, I know my daughter when she wants it she won’t be able to find hers. I was very specific about my fabric. I must have tried it on for, you know, a whole year making sure that we had the perfect fabric. It’s just honestly, like, my heart and soul. I love it.’

Vogue agreed that Kim is ‘one of the authors of social media’ and she explained why her 300+ million followers get so invested in her lifestyle and brands.

‘I definitely realized how to use social media as a tool to enhance my business. I would always show people a little bit of my design and have them be apart of that world with me,’ Kardashian said.

‘It happened organically but I realized later it made the fan or the customer feel like they’re invested in that product because they helped me pick the color of the bottle. They helped with my decision process along the way and I genuinely wanted their help, so it just was kind of this – I always say the stars aligned on that.

‘But it’s not as easy as it looks though. It does look very easy on the Internet. It’s a full-time job and it’s extremely time-consuming and it’s not as easy as it may appear to some people.’

The Calabasas socialite was not asked about her third divorce, this time to Kanye West, but she did reveal how the coronavirus allowed her to better bond with their four children.

‘This time that I’ve been able to spend with my children has been priceless. That part has been so beautiful,’ Kim noted.

‘Just knowing that when we do start to fill our plates back up I hope that we don’t fill them up with things that don’t make us happy. Even the work schedule! I used to work nonstop and I would’ve done anything and everything at all hours and never taken into consideration just slowing down at all. So this was a forced halt.’