Every Time Kim Kardashian Has Purchased Dead Celebrities' Belongings

The following article includes a brief reference to child abuse allegations.

Kim Kardashian is undeniably a cash machine. The reality show star and shapewear mogul boasts the title of billionaire, and with such fathomlessly deep pockets, Kardashian can afford to have pretty much anything custom-made to her exact specifications. However, an auctioneer describing the contents of deceased celebrities' closets and jewelry boxes seems to be her siren song; when she hears it, the "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" star is compelled to loosen her purse strings.

"I'm obsessed with auctions," Kardashian confessed in a 2019 post on her Instagram Story (via the Daily Mail). By the end of that year, she'd bought enough belongings of dead stars that Refinery29 got duped by a morbid joke circulating on social media. A screenshot of a sham Instagram post made it appear that Kardashian had purchased the blood-covered shirt that President John F. Kennedy was wearing when he was assassinated. Worse yet, the prankster behind the deception claimed that Kardashian bought the garment for her daughter, North West. "WOW this is obviously fake!" Kardashian tweeted. "... I did not get JFK's shirt. That is a sick joke that someone tweeted as a fake ig story that I never posted." Refinery29 removed its erroneous reporting, but it lives on in infamy as part of the Snopes entry about JFK's shirt.

While Kim Kardashian's taste in the previously owned possessions of the famous isn't quite so macabre, her collection does include a piece once worn by a Kennedy.

In August 2017, Kim Kardashian appeared on the cover of Interview magazine like her fans had never seen her before. While her then-husband Kanye West's 2020 presidential bid would prove unsuccessful, the magazine reimagined the reality star as a first lady, garbing her in a retro round collar dress and coordinating opera gloves. She wore pearl earrings, and her hair was styled in a bouffant bob, making it obvious that she was emulating the timeless style of the late Jackie Kennedy. The magazine's headline christened Kardashian "America's new first lady," per Twitter.

Months earlier, Kardashian got her hands on a timepiece that would have facilitated her transformation into American royalty. At a Christie's auction, she bid $379,500 on a Cartier watch that was gifted to Jackie O by her sister Lee Radziwill's husband, Prince Stanislaw "Stas" Radziwill, in 1963. According to TMZ, what Kardashian paid was more than three times the amount Christie's estimated that the understated watch would sell for. The Cartier Tank featured a black band, rectangular gold bezel, and Roman numeral dial.

In a 2019 interview with Vogue, Kardashian revealed that she wore Kennedy's watch when she met with then-President Donald Trump and successfully advocated for the release of inmate Alice Marie Johnson. Kardashian apparently looks up to the first lady of Camelot as a strong, impactful leader, saying of her timepiece, "It gave me some power: Let's get in there and get this done!"

Kim Kardashian is a major Elizabeth Taylor stan, and she was afforded a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to interview her idol for Harper's Bazaar in February 2011. Her first question? "I'm six husbands and some big jewels behind. What should I do?" When Taylor died a month later, Kardashian soon found one way to procure some more jewelry. Per InStyle, she spent $64,900 on three of the "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" actor's bracelets, which went up for auction that December. According to Forbes, this was but a small fraction of what Taylor's entire jewelry collection brought in at the Christie's auction; buyers spent a record-breaking $116 million on her diamonds, pearls, and other precious gems.

The bangles Kardashian scored were Lorraine Schwartz pieces accented with diamonds and jade. "I never thought I could own a piece of Elizabeth Taylor's jewelry," Kardashian told InStyle. "I was so thrilled to win these bangles because they were hers." She was particularly interested in getting her paws on the bracelets because she thought the jade in them possessed a mystical ability. "[Taylor] wore them constantly during the final years of her life and I believe they carry her spirit," the reality star explained. 

Kardashian got another step closer to being just like her idol when she scored her third engagement ring from Kanye West (also designed by pal Lorraine Schwartz, natch), and she wore it while imitating Taylor in a 2013 Instagram photo.

In 2019, Kim Kardashian bought her younger brother, Rob Kardashian, a Christmas gift fit for a king. In a post on her Instagram Story (via the Daily Mail), she revealed that Rob is a huge fan of Elvis Presley, so when Julien's Auctions sold some of the late singer's belongings, she placed the winning bids on two of his chunky gold rings. One featured an oval-shaped ruby, and the other was adorned with a rectangular row of four diamonds. Kim paid $7,000 and $8,000 for the respective pieces.

Rob possibly inherited his love for the "Heartbreak Hotel" singer from his late dad, Robert Kardashian. According to the unauthorized Kardashian family biography, "The Kardashians: An American Drama," Robert adored Elvis and knew all the lyrics to the rock icon's greatest hits. He also fell in love with Elvis' ex-wife, Priscilla Presley, and dated her for a short time. One of the attorney's close friends, Joni Migdal, claimed that Robert's appreciation for Elvis' music made the idea of settling down with Priscilla even more appealing to him. "He wanted to marry her and have children with her," recalled Migdal. 

But before Robert could put a ring on it, Priscilla reportedly informed him that she didn't plan on getting married again until her famous ex-husband died. So Robert gave up on wedding Graceland royalty and rekindled a former flame: the future momager of his children, Kris Jenner.

Also in 2019, Kim Kardashian gifted her oldest child, North West, with some Michael Jackson memorabilia for Christmas. One of the pieces she acquired was a historically significant accoutrement: the white fedora that Michael wore in the music video for his 1988 hit "Smooth Criminal." In a post on her Instagram Story (via E! News), Kardashian noted that the hat came with some makeup smudges, courtesy of its former wearer. She paid over $56,000 for the fedora and shelled out another $65,625 for the bejeweled velvet coat that the King of Pop wore when he attended Elizabeth Taylor's birthday bash in 1997. Kardashian revealed that she had it tailored for North in a manner that would allow her to grow into it.

North wore the hat to a Halloween party in 2022, showing it off in a video on the TikTok page that she shares with her mom. This sparked a discussion on Reddit, where one critic wrote, "Nobody who's dead is safe from Kim." Others referenced the allegations that Michael molested children. "I was thinking this is a really weird costume for anyone, but especially a little kid," another comment read.

We can't help but wonder if North knows that her mom once dated Michael's nephew, TJ Jackson. Apparently, Kardashian used her konnection to score her dream 14th birthday party venue: Neverland Ranch. "The memories I have from that place will last for the rest of my life," she later told People.

If you or someone you know may be the victim of child abuse, please contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.

According to Kim Kardashian, she and Princess Diana have something in common. In a 2010 interview with "Extra" (via Metro), the "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" star recounted a conversation she had about the crowds of admirers and paparazzi that were clamoring to photograph her in Paris. "The guy at the Ritz was like, 'I've never seen it like this since Princess Diana,'" she recalled. And when Diana began making headlines for her son Prince Harry's recollections of her in his 2023 memoir "Spare," Kardashian used the late Princess of Wales to cause a different kind of pandemonium on social media.

Per Page Six Style, Kardashian shelled out over $197,000 to purchase a necklace once worn by Diana. Sotheby's auctioned off the flashy piece, which featured a large amethyst cross with diamond accents. The same jeweler that created Diana's engagement ring, Garrard, crafted the pendant a century before it fell into Kardashian's hands.

Diana borrowed the piece from its owner, Naim Attallah CBE, to wear to a charity event in 1987. "It is understood that the cross was only ever worn by the princess, and following her death, it was never seen in public again until now," Sotheby's said in a press release, per Page Six Style. Some social media users were of the mind that the cross should never hang from Kardashian's neck. "Taking things from iconic women won't make YOU iconic Kim," one critic tweeted. "Can she literally leave deceased people stuff alone?????" another wrote.

When Kim Kardashian wore one of Marilyn Monroe's dresses to the Met Gala in 2022, she caused quite the controversy. She borrowed the late actor's bedazzled "Happy Birthday" gown from Ripley's Believe It or Not! — which had to later release a statement assuring critics that Kardashian didn't damage the dress, even though she struggled to get it on during a fitting and couldn't even zip the back up over her backside, per TMZ. On its Instagram page, the museum also revealed that Kardashian did not pay to borrow the garment. She did, however, agree to make charitable donations to two unidentified nonprofits, and she received a gift from Ripley's in return for her generosity (and publicity): a lock of Monroe's hair. The museum shared a video of her reaction on Instagram.

Upon opening a silver jar and seeing the wispy pieces of dyed keratin, Kardashian exclaimed, "Oh, my God, I'm literally going to do some crazy voodoo s**t [to] channel [Monroe]. ... Wow, this is sleeping with me every night." For this, she jokingly apologized to her boyfriend of the moment, Pete Davidson.

According to CNBC, Julien's Auctions sold strands of Monroe's platinum blonde mane for over $37,000 in 2016. So if Kardashian ever decides to part with her piece of Hollywood history-strange bedfellow, her Marilyn moment at the Met Gala could net her a profit.