Image Repair

The 72 Day Marriage of 

Kim Kardashian & Kris Humphries

Kris Humphries                                  Kim Kardashian

     My paper will be analyzing the image repair tactics used by Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries starting with the dating period through the engagement, marriage, and divorce. The steps taken by a person to shed a positive light after a negative situation is the act of image repair.  Once celebrities enter the spotlight their every action is scrutinized by the public eye.  When celebrities make poor choices or say regretful statements they must enter into a ‘911’ stage where they take care of this issue.  There are several ways that celebrities handle these situations, including acceptance, denial, apologizing and avoidance to name a few.  Many of the studies that surround celebrity image repair focus on only one of these tactics for dealing with the problem. 


     Kim and Kris made their friendship public on October 31, 2010, ironically exactly one year later Kim will file for divorce.  Seven months after meeting the pair became engaged on May 18, 2011.  On August 20, 2011 Kim and Kris tied the knot in front of the cameras for E! network. 

Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries on their wedding day, August 20, 2011.

     Only 22 days before the end of their marriage, E! released the two part episode of 'Kim's Fairytale Wedding: A Kardashian Event'.  The two part episode exposed all aspects of the wedding, as well as the good and bad of the couple's relationship.  On October 31, 2011, 72 days after they wed, Kim filed for divorce. 

     Throughout their relationship, marriage, and divorce Kim and Kris frequently turned to the media and internet to express thoughts and share aspects of their lives'.  Other times the media uncovered stories and generated stories true and untrue about the couple.  A majority of the media involving both Kim and Kris was positive up until the marriage.  Many of their fans were unaware of the aspects of their relationship until the couple began placing themselves' in front of cameras for their shows on E!.  They first appeared on 'Keeping up with the Kardashians' where fans got their first glimpse into how the couple got along together.  Up until this point people only knew the couple through the media that was released about them.  From the beginning of the couple appearing on TV through their show for their wedding, fans saw their relationship not working out.  Their were fights and awkward moments that showed the two not being a good match. 

Kim tells US Weekly all the details of her divorce.

     Once the marriage was official and the TV shows had aired, the world had a true understanding of the Kim and Kris relationship.  Many people saw the end coming. In the weeks leading up to their divorce tabloids began posting photos of the couple arguing and showing uncomfortable body language to each other.  

Kim Kardashian's Twitter page in the days surrounding her divorce.

     On October 31, 2011 many people's view of Kim and Kris was extremely altered.  America lost respect for this beloved couple.  This is where we begin analyzing how each of them handled the situation.  Kris waited almost a month and half before he tweeted after the divorce and did not speaker to anyone about it.  Kim took to the internet right away with a blog post to her fans and tweets that seemed to be Kim living life as normal.  After the sting of the divorce wore Kim began tweeting things like lyrics to a song, directing them towards Kris (not in a good way).  Kim also made a poor choice by choosing to volunteer, something she had never done before. These two circumstances, along with several others, will be analyzed in my paper as I show how Kim started off with avoidance and then moved to acceptance and apology.  My paper will discuss how Kim did not choose tactful ways to apologize and redo her image.  The other half of the couple, Kris, began with silence after the divorce.  Just like Kim, he used childish ways to begin showing his true feelings a few months after the divorce.  I will analyze how Kris chose silence throughout a majority of the divorce and his image repair.  He used the route of avoidance for a majority of his repair, which causes fans to dislike him even more.