Who Is Kim Lee From Bling Empire?

Hailed as a "Selling Sunset meets Crazy Rich Asians" (per O, The Oprah Magazine), Bling Empire is the hottest new reality series to hit Netflix. The eight-episode series follows a group of super rich friends of Asian ethnicity as they party their way through Los Angeles.

While reality series usually pick up cast members that aren't already in the spotlight, one member of the Bling Empire clan that may look familiar to some is Kim Lee. According to The Oprah Magazine, Kim was raised by her Vietnamese mother in Los Angeles. Attending a specialized school for DJs (per Screen Rant), Kim knew she wanted to pursue an artistic career. She has also taken her talents to the runway, walking international catwalks in the mid 2000s, according to The Cinemaholic. Some may recognize her as a dancer in The Hangover Part II, or from starring in music videos from Kanye West and Katy Perry, as per her official website. She has also appeared on The Amazing Race Vietnam and Vietnam's Got Talent.

Kim's main focus though, aside from being a rising reality star, is her DJing. She has had huge success in the industry, performing alongside artists like Steve Aoki, Diplo, and Skrillex, according to her bio. Her website flaunts her as "one of the most sought after DJ/Producers in the business." 

But who is she when she's not creating music or landing magazine covers? Keep reading to discover more about Kim Lee from Bling Empire.

As reported by O, The Oprah Magazine, Kim Lee was raised by her Vietnamese mother and French stepdad. While she has a super close relationship with her supportive parents, she felt it necessary to learn more about where she came from, per Distractify. Therefore, Kim's plot line throughout season one of Bling Empire has her on mission to find her biological dad with the help of a private investigator.

Unfortunately, it was discovered that Kim's father died about two years before she began filming Bling Empire. Upon hearing the news, she said she felt like she lost a part of herself. "When you lose a parent, it's never going to be the same. It's a different type of pain," she said on the show, according to Distractify.

Her mother admitted she had a feeling Kim's father wasn't alive anymore before receiving the confirmation. "There were so many times, I think about him," Kim's mom explained. "I just wish him well. But I had a feeling he not here in this world anymore."

While Kim was unable to unite with her dad, fans speculate that the journey to finding him may have led her to another man.

Kim Lee didn't find out her father died on her own — when the private investigator revealed his potential location as being South Carolina, Kim's friends Kane Lim and Kevin Kreider traveled to the state to investigate, per Distractify. Fans of Empire Bling are now shipping Kevin and Kim after seeing them interact in a one-on-one setting at the end of the season.

According to Elite Daily, the friends have a flirtatious exchange when Kim approaches Kevin at a group celebration to thank him for his help in uncovering the truth about her father. Kevin then tells Kim to stop looking like she's about to kiss him. "You have a crush on me, I get it," he teases.

In a January 2021 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Kevin admits to feeling sparks during that intimate moment with Kim, but says nothing has come of it — for now. "It's this weird dynamic that I think we're still trying to figure out ourselves even. There's definitely a physical attraction, but there are some things that don't attract me about her, and we're really just, oddly, figuring that out because we do talk," he explained. 

The season ends on a bit of a cliffhanger in regard to Kevin and Kim's romance. While a second season has not yet been announced, fans are already asking for more.