Did the Kardashians scam the system to get famous?

Kim Kardashian at the 2023 GQ Men of the Year in Los Angeles, California. Kim has reflected on her family's rise to fame in the season-four finale of The Kardashians. Photo / Axelle, Bauer-Griffin, FilmMagic

Kim Kardashian thinks her family “scammed the system” to get famous.

The 43-year-old beauty and her loved ones reflected on their early taste of stardom as they celebrated the 40th birthday of Scott Disick — who has Mason, 14, Penelope, 11, and 8-year-old Reign with his former partner, Kim’s older sister Kourtney Kardashian — and they admitted they were stunned by how far they had come.

Reflecting on how she had known Scott for “most of [his] adult life”, matriarch Kris Jenner said on the season four finale of The Kardashians: “You were literally here episode one, season one [of Keeping Up With the Kardashians].” Scott quipped: “I was like, ‘This show’s going nowhere’!”

Kim then toasted Scott and noted how she has known him for 19 years and he had “supported [her] through thick and thin” and had been with her “through every phase”.

Scott joked: “[Remember] when you were on the cover of Dog Fancy?”

Kim Kardashian has acknowledged her family's unconventional rise to fame. Photo / Getty Images

Clarifying it was K9 magazine, Kim quipped: “Anything for a cover!”

Scott then praised Kim for how far she has come since then.

He noted: “And I was like, you don’t like dogs. And now you’re an attorney-at-law, a Vogue cover model.”

The SKIMS founder — who has four children with ex-husband Kanye West — then praised her family for having “scammed the system”.

She whispered: “Guys, we scammed the system. We did it! Whatever it is, we figured it out and did it! We put in some hard work.”

Later, in a confessional, Kim admitted she is always stunned by how famous she and her family are now.

She said: “Scott’s my motivator. He’ll always say, ‘God, can you believe you did it’? And I’m like, ‘I can’t, this is crazy’... We aren’t supposed to be here, like how did we get in this cool party? We weren’t the cool kids, how did we do it?”