The cover of Sorbet, featuring Khloe Kardashian, who looks like Taylor Swift. Photo / Instagram
The cover of Sorbet, featuring Khloe Kardashian, who looks like Taylor Swift. Photo / Instagram
OPINION
Khloe Kardashian looks unrecognisable in a new shoot, and the reason why is so depressing – but also not surprising, writes Mary Madigan.
Khloe Kardashian’s face has morphed so severely that you can’t even tell if it’s her anymore. In her most recent photo shoot for Sorbet, she resembles Taylor Swift more than herself.
The images make me feel completely depressed, and it is not a feeling I can shake off.
The internet has reacted in shock to Khloe’s unrecognisable transformation, but I’m completely unsurprised.
— the wicked witch of the east bro (@sumjenk) January 4, 2023
This is what happens when you tear apart a woman’s body and looks for years and years. Khloe Kardashian has spent over a decade navigating a media landscape that has labelled her as the least attractive sister. Of course she’d want to change herself.
Renée Zellweger, who famously played Bridget Jones in the blockbuster movie trilogy, certified herself as a true star in that role, but she’d also gained weight to play the title character who was positioned as a chubby girl.
As soon as the role wrapped up, she became infamous for being very skinny.
Renee Zellweger put on weight for her role as Bridget Jones.
I have no moral judgment on this, I’m just pointing out that when women’s bodies are discussed negatively or bear too much scrutiny, it makes sense that they’d make moves to change their bodies.
So, while Khloe’s new look might be more polarising than just shedding a few kilos, it shouldn’t be shocking.
I am a Khloe Kardashian fan. I even watched her reality series that was dedicated to her married life with Lamar Odom. (Before it became clear he was a serial cheater, even Kris Jenner couldn’t fix that relationship.)
To me, Khloe was the Kardashian sister that I identified with the most. She was funny, with a darker sense of humour and she was also bigger.
Khloe Kardashian, centre, is always being compared to her sisters Kourtney, left, and Kim, right. Photo / Supplied.
I’ve also watched Khloe’s face and body drastically change over the last few years. I’ve watched her size shrink, her nose change shape and her photos on Instagram become so heavily edited she looks more like a cartoon than a woman.
In 2015, Amy Schumer opened Saturday Night Live with a controversial joke at Khloe’s expense, saying: “We have to be a role model for these little girls, because who do they have? All they have, literally, is the Kardashians.
“And like, we used to have Khloe. Khloe was ours, right? But then Khloe, she’s lost half her body weight. Khloe, she lost a Kendall, and we have nothing.”
Khloe Kardashian's heavily edited post on Instagram, in 2021, and a video screengrab of her in the same outfit. Photos / Supplied
The joke was met with backlash because of the conversations around weight, but I also understood what Schumer was trying to convey. Khloe had changed so drastically, her fans that identified with her would struggle to connect with her now.
Flash forward to 2023, and Schumer’s joke feels more relevant than ever. Where is Khloe?
I’d say she is buried under an incredible amount of insecurity.
In 2021, Khloe made international headlines when she tried to scrub an unedited photo from the internet that was of her in a bikini.
Khloe Kardashian responded to the photo scrubbing backlash with a candid statement. Photo / Instagram
In response, she released a very candid statement on Instagram: “The photo that was posted this week was beautiful. But as someone who has struggled with body image her whole life, when someone takes a photo of you that isn’t flattering in bad lighting or doesn’t capture your body the way it is after working too hard to get it to this point – and then shares it to the world – you should have every right to ask for it not to be shared – no matter who you are.
“In truth, the pressure, constant ridicule, and judgment my entire life to be perfect and meet other’s standards of how I should look has been too much to bear. ‘Khloe is the fat sister’. ‘Khloe is the ugly sister’. ‘Her dad must not be her real dad because she looks so different’. ‘The only way she could have lost that weight must have been from surgery’.
“Should I go on? You never quite get used to being judged and pulled apart and told how unattractive one is, but I will say, if you hear anything enough, then you start to believe it.
“This is an example of how I have been conditioned to feel, that I am not beautiful enough just being me.”
Y’all shouldn’t act surprised about Khloe Kardashian ruining her face, it’s your fault, constantly making fun of her, calling her the ugly sister, making her insecure about the way she looks, what did you expect?! pic.twitter.com/eFcSEfDCAc
That’s the bleak reality. Khloe’s looks have been dissected so much that it has made her too self-conscious to even look like herself. And you know what? Even though she’s desperately tried to change her appearance to fit into some kind of beauty standard, her looks are still being mocked online.
Do you know what that tells me? Women can’t win, and sadly for Khloe, that means no matter what she looks like, she’s always going to lose.
