Inside Kim Kardashian's traumatising robbery ordeal that left her 'hysterical'
All eyes are set to be on Kim Kardashian today when she takes the stand to testify in a 'grandpa robbery' trial, almost a decade on from allegedly being held at gunpoint
Kim Kardashian was allegedly robbed at gunpoint and had millions of dollars' worth of her jewellery taken from her when she was staying in a hotel in Paris on October 3, 2016. Today, she's set to revisit what she has described as the "scariest thing" she's ever been through in her life. The businesswoman and reality television star is expected to testify this afternoon to give her version of events of the ordeal, which saw several men posing as police officers storm into her hotel suite where she was staying during Paris Fashion Week and steal a reported $10million in jewellery. This included her beloved diamond engagement ring worth $4 million from her ex-husband, Kanye West. Kim, now 44, claimed she was held at gunpoint with tape over her mouth, put in her luxury suite's bathtub and had her wrists tied. The mother, who broke her silence in January 2017, believed she was going to be killed.
Yesterday, (Monday, May 12) witness Abderrahmane Ouatiki, who was the hotel receptionist, told the court he was marched up to Kardashian's hotel room and was made to translate the robbers' demands. He said she was "in a state of complete terror" and "completely hysterical" as a "nervous" man directed a gun at her. Ouatiki added: "He was very aggressive and she was utterly terrified." The night receptionist also stated he feared for his life, too, as the burglars were evidently irritated by Kardashian's screaming. The court heard three people kept watch in the reception of Hotel de Pourtalès while two other men made Ouatiki take them to Kardashian's suite, where they demanded she give up her engagement ring and stole other jewels. They were arrested three months after the ordeal alongside several others thought to be accessories to the robbery. A total of 12 people were due to appear in court, but one died in March and another was excused from the proceedings due to health reasons. All but two of the remaining 10 deny any involvement in the crime.
The precious jewels were never found, but the French authorities have reason to believe they were broken up and sold on. The case has been called the "grandpa robbers" trial due to five of the suspects being pensioners. Aomar Ait Khedache, the 68-year-old alleged leader of the gang, was questioned in court last week but had to write his answers down as he's deaf and mute. The court heard that when Kardashian was tied up, she only wore a bathrobe, and the belt came undone. Ouatiki declined to discuss this in detail when her lawyer, Léonore Hennerick, asked about it. He just said: "You have to respect the victim, I think." Recalling that moment with journalist David Letterman in an emotional interview in 2020, Kardashian said: "I was like, 'Okay, this is the time I'm going to get raped.'" She also told Letterman she feared for her life and for her older sister, Kourtney Kardashian, who was in Paris with her.
She said: "I'm gonna be dead in the room and she's gonna be traumatised for the rest of her life." She claimed the robbers grabbed her diamond ring, phone, €1,000 in cash and various other jewels and ran away. Shortly after their swift exit, her bodyguard arrived, and Kardashian was able to untie herself. In the early hours of October 3, she later gave a statement to the police and jetted back to the USA. Kardashian has also spoken about the incident on Keeping Up With The Kardashians, with the mum-of-four saying she feared the robbery turned her into a "full robot with like, no emotion". "[My therapist] was like, 'You think calm is your superpower. I think you are so desensitised from trauma that you literally are frozen in fight or flight,'" she explained in one episode. "So then she was like, 'One time in life something happened, and you remained calm, and that worked for you. So you will always choose calm.'" She also stated that the heist forced her to reconsider how she lived and what she shared online. "I learned to be more private," she later said. "It's not worth the risk." The Skims founder soon enhanced her security by hiring people in elite protective services and stopped posting her location in real time on social media. She also removed all traces of lavish gifts and jewellery from her feed. "I was definitely materialistic before — but I'm so happy that my kids get this me," she told Ellen DeGeneres in 2017. "People were watching," she explained. "They knew what I had. They knew where I was." Now, hundreds of journalists are in Paris ready to hear Kardashian's testimony after all this time. "Testifying will allow her to reclaim agency in this situation and rewrite the ending," celebrity expert Jeetendr Sehdev told the BBC.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Les Misérables audience boo Donald Trump as President angers theatregoers
Donald Trump attended the Kennedy Center in Washington DC for the first time since he announced huge plans to change the venue's programming - including a ban on drag acts Grainy footage captures theatregoers boo and heckle Donald Trump as the President takes his seat for the opening night of Les Misérables. Some cast members were expected to pull out of Wednesday night's gig at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC because they were aware the President was coming. He angered performers and patrons at the venue when he announced huge changes to its programming earlier this year - having controvesially been elected chairman. These plans included a cut on what he called "woke" productions, such as drag acts. And the fury could be felt in the auditorium as Mr Trump and wife Melania took their seats ahead of Les Mis. It was his first time at the venue, the national cultural centre of the US, since becoming President again - and since the massive overhaul of its output. There were also empty seats in the balconies and even in the orchestra section, with talk ahead of the gig that patrons intended to boycott the performance. It is understood understudies filled in for main performers, who also had decided to boycott the night due to Mr Trump's presence. The Mirror is working to confirm if this was the case - and how many cast members dropped out. Sales of subscription packages are said to have declined since Mr Trump's takeover, and several touring productions, including Hamilton, have cancelled planned runs at the centre. Actor Issa Rae and musician Rhiannon Giddens scrapped scheduled appearances, and Kennedy Center consultants, including musician Ben Folds and singer Renée Fleming, resigned. Yet, Mr Trump remained proud as, clad in a tuxedo, he sat for the performance on Wednesday. The politician has a particular affection for Les Misérables, the sprawling musical set in 19th-century France, and has occasionally played its songs at his events. One of them, Do You Hear the People Sing?, is a revolutionary rallying cry inspired by the 1832 rebellion against the French king. Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, were also there. Ric Grenell, the Trump-appointed interim leader of the Kennedy Center, stood nearby as the President spoke to reporters. Attorney General Pam Bondi chatted with other guests. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr took selfies with attendees. But the MAGA takeover was met with heckles in the auditorium itself. People on X also shared the irony Mr Trump chose to see a performance about a mass uprising against a tyrannical king. Images on X show audience members dressed in drag, a nid to Mr Trump's criticism the venue put on drag shows before his takeover. However, some reports suggest a minority in the audience cheered the President's arrival. When reporters told Mr Trump it was expected some cast members had pulled out due to his presence, the nonchalant world leader said: "I couldn't care less."
Evening Standard
6 hours ago
- Evening Standard
Napoleonic prisoner of war camp buried under field bought from farmer
Located near Peterborough, it contains the remains of around 1,770 French, Dutch and German soldiers captured in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars fought between the French and other European nations.
Scottish Sun
9 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
French cops shrug & claim ‘it's difficult' as they stand & watch migrant family almost drown in bid to board small boat
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A FAMILY almost drowned today as they struggled to board a migrant boat — while ten French cops watched from the shore and shrugged: 'It's difficult.'. The mum, dad and young children were among a group of asylum seekers who tried but failed to wade out to the dinghy in time. 5 French cops shrugged their shoulders as they watched migrants pack into boats heading to the UK Credit: Chris Eades 5 One family nearly drowned as they struggled to board the packed dinghy Credit: Chris Eades 5 French cops shrugged their shoulders and said 'it's difficult' Credit: Chris Eades Fighting their way through currents, they returned in silence to the beach in Gravelines, around 15 miles east of Calais. The family, believed to be from Eritrea, finally recovered enough to declare they would try again to clamber on to the estimated £1,200-a-spot 'taxi' to Britain. Just feet away were the cops, watching with binoculars. They wore riot helmets and some carried shields and pepper spray. Asked why they would not intervene when it was clearly so perilous, one officer simply told The Sun: 'It's difficult.' The boat had been launched just before 5am further up the coast, and arrived to pick up the migrants. A waiting crowd then ran out from the sand dunes. French law enforcement have long said it is too risky to act once the boat is in the water — meaning the officers merely watched as the danger unfolded before missing the chance to arrest one of the smugglers. The Sun saw the boat turn up. First a large group of men scrambled aboard, followed by women and families with children. One man appeared barely able to keep his head above water, as he desperately reached from the sea towards the dinghy. Hull residents react to migrants living in iconic hotel Others held on to each other as they fought to keep their kids out of the surf. One cop kept an eye on the inflatable dinghy while four others stood chatting behind him. Another began filming the incident on his phone, while a pal inhaled from a vape. At one stage it appeared the boat was overloaded, with its engine either broken or not powerful enough. But it eventually set off, leaving a group of around ten people without a place. It momentarily paused, giving the desperate migrants a glimmer of hope, but by then the water was already too deep. MAKESHIFT CAMP A suspected smuggler who had steered the boat leapt out and made it to shore — leaving the passengers to negotiate the treacherous crossing alone. He took the group who had missed out back to their makeshift camp, but the police had already left the scene. He became aggressive when approached by The Sun. The family who came close to drowning stayed silent when asked how they were and why they were prepared to take young children on the crossing. They also did not respond when asked if they realised how dangerous the crossing was. But asked if they would try again, a boy believed to be eight or under heartbreakingly admitted 'Yes'. 5 Ten police officers stood on the beach, around 15 miles east of Calais, watching the loading unfold with binoculars Credit: Chris Eades 5 The family also stayed silent when The Sun asked how they felt about missing the boat Credit: Chris Eades Meanwhile another small boat was spotted setting off further down the coast, trailed by a French warship. The two dinghies carried an estimated total of 150 migrants. Photographs from Dover later showed many in life jackets being brought ashore after being intercepted by a UK Border Force patrol. It is unclear if these were the same migrants we saw, or others who set off elsewhere from the France. More than 15,000 people have illegally crossed the Channel this year, figures compiled by the Tories showed. This breaks last year's record of 13,489 arrivals in the first six months. There have also been ten migrant deaths in the Channel this year. Britain is paying France £476million for a deal which is supposed to see border commanders in Calais prevent crossings. But police routinely refuse to do anything once migrants are in the sea. The Sun on Sunday last week told how French police union boss Fabien Vanhemelryck had been branded a hypocrite. 'HYPOCRITE' UNION BOSS It emerged he had called migrants 'scum' and a 'pain' — yet was leading the charge against officers having to intervene. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp MP slammed a 'total loss of border control'. He added: '2025 is the worst year ever for small boat crossings so far. While traffickers and criminal gangs rake in millions, Labour Ministers stand in Westminster rehearsing soundbites.' The Home Office said: 'We have returned nearly 30,000 people with no right to be here and have driven up illegal working arrests by 42 per cent. 'We know more needs to be done with the French to build upon the 10,000 crossing attempts that we have stopped this year, and we are strengthening our cooperation to do this.' They added of the Tory plan to process asylum seekers in a third country: 'The Rwanda plan was not a deterrent. It did not lead to one person being forcibly removed and cost the taxpayer £700million.'
