Kim Kardashian arrives ahead of robbery court case, as ITV News’ Entertainment Correspondent Rishi Davda reports
Kim Kardashian has told a Paris court she feared she would be raped and killed during a 2016 armed robbery in the city.
“I was certain that was the moment that he was going to rape me,” Kardashian told the French court, recalling how one robber pulled her toward him while she was wearing only a bathrobe.
“I absolutely did think I was going to die,” she added.
It marked the first time Kardashian has confronted the men accused of tying her up at gunpoint in her hotel suite during Fashion Week and stealing more than $6 million in jewellery.
She recounted the moment she realised there were intruders, saying at first, she thought it was her sister Kourtney returning from a night out.
Kim said she heard footsteps running up the stairs and called out to ask who it was.
Moments later, her door flew open, and the attackers entered disguised as police officers and dragging the concierge upstairs in handcuffs, she told the court.
“I thought it was some sort of terrorist attack,” she said.
They allegedly tied her hands, dragged her toward the bathtub, and pointed a gun at her temple.
She described how she begged the robbers, telling them, “I have babies”. One allegedly replied that she would be okay if she stayed quiet.
During the incident, Kardashian said one man gestured at her diamond ring. “He said, ‘Ring! Ring!’ and he pointed to his hand,” she recalled.
Of the nine men and one woman on trial, some are facing armed robbery and kidnapping charges, while others are accused of complicity in the heist or the unauthorised possession of a weapon.
The kidnapping charges relate to Kardashian and the concierge who was working at the accommodation Kardashian was staying in during Fashion Week on October 2, 2016.
Simone Harouche, Kardashian’s stylist, was sharing the two-floor suite on the night of the attack. She told the court on Tuesday how she heard Kim beg for her life.
‘”I have babies and I need to live.’ That is what she kept on saying. ‘Take everything. I need to live.'”
“I was scared that she was raped or violated. I thought the worst,” Harouche added.
Twelve suspects were originally charged. One has died. Another has been excused from proceedings due to serious illness.
Most are in their 60s and 70s – dubbed “les papys braqueurs”, or “the grandpa robbers,” by the French press – but investigators insist they were no harmless retirees.
Authorities have described them as a seasoned and co-ordinated criminal group.
Two of the defendants have admitted being at the scene. The others deny any involvement, some even claim they didn’t know who Kim Kardashian was.
However, police say the group tracked her movements through her own social media posts, which flaunted her jewellery and revealed her location.
On the night of the robbery, police say the criminals, posing as policemen, entered through two large, unmarked red doors on Rue Tronchet, where Kardashian was staying.
They held the concierge at gunpoint to gain access to the apartment before entering Kardashian’s bedroom, police said.
In an episode of ‘Keeping Up With The Kardashians’ in 2017, Kardashian spoke publicly for the first time about the incident.
“Then (one of the armed men) duct tapes my face, my mouth, to get me to not yell or anything, and then he grabs my legs,” she said.
“I had no clothes on under (my robe), and he pulled me towards him at the front of the bed, and I thought, ‘Okay, this is the moment. They are going to rape me.’
“And I fully mentally prepped myself and then he didn’t, and he duct-taped my legs together.”
She added: “Then they had the gun up to me and I just knew that was the moment they are just totally going to shoot me in the head.
“I just prayed Kourtney (her elder sister) was going to have a normal life after she sees my dead body on the bed.”
Her attackers fled on bicycles, and she managed to free herself by removing the tape from her hands and mouth.
She also removed the tape from her feet and rushed to her stylist’s room. She called her sister Kourtney to tell her about the theft.
In the aftermath, Kim withdrew from public life. She developed severe anxiety and later described symptoms of agoraphobia, a fear of being in situations where escape might be difficult.
“I hated to go out,” she said in a 2021 interview. “I didn’t want anybody to know where I was … I just had such anxiety.”
Her lawyers confirmed she would appear in court. “She has tremendous appreciation and admiration for the French judicial system,” they wrote, adding that she hopes the trial proceeds “in an orderly fashion… and with respect for all parties.”
Her lawyers say she is “particularly grateful” to French authorities – and ready to confront those who attacked her with dignity.
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