Reality television star Kim Kardashian has finally given a first-hand account of being robbed at gunpoint in Paris last year, an experience she said has helped her grow and become a better person.
Kardashian, 36, told her story to her family and the world in her own words on Sunday's episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians on the E! cable channel. She said she feared being raped and killed in last October's robbery, where thieves tied her up in a luxury hotel apartment and stole about US$10 million (S$14 million) worth of jewellery.
"I thought it was important to share this story through my eyes & not in an interview where my own words could be twisted," the reality star told her 95 million Instagram followers.
"I took a tragic horrific experience and did not let it diminish me, rather I grew and evolved and allowed the experience to teach me. I can say I've become so much better because of it," she added, without elaborating.
Kardashian called off all public engagements for three months after the robbery, increased security and abandoned her prolific social media postings.
On the Sunday show, she described how one of the intruders put duct tape on her mouth.
"And then, he grabs my legs and I wasn't, you know, I had no clothes on under. He pulled me towards him at the front of the bed and I thought, 'Okay, this is the moment they're going to rape me,'" she said. "I fully mentally prepped myself - and then he didn't."
The man then held a gun up to her head.
"I just knew that was the moment. They're just totally going to shoot me in the head. I just prayed that Kourtney's (Kardashian's sister) going to have a normal life after she sees my dead body on the bed."
Kardashian's emotional reunion in New York with her two children and her husband, rapper Kanye West, was filmed for the TV show and broadcast on Sunday.
It showed West saying: "If anything had really happened to you, I wouldn't have stopped until they were dead."
Kardashian told her sisters that she now believes the thieves were following her throughout the Paris trip.
"I was Snapchatting, you know, that I was home and that everyone was going out. So I think they knew (bodyguard) Pascal was out with Kourtney and that I was there by myself. They had to have known we were leaving that day. They had this window of opportunity and just went for it."
Paris police have put 10 people under investigation for involvement in the robbery, but no one has been charged.
Since pulling back from the public eye, Kardashian has made a gradual comeback, appearing at some public events and filming a small cameo in January for the upcoming female caper movie Ocean's Eight about a jewel heist in New York.
REUTERS, WASHINGTON POST
