Ways The Kardashians Have Turned Their Back On Rob

For years, Rob Kardashian was the sole brother in a household full of narcissistic, arguably crazy sisters with only his stepfather, Bruce Jenner, to turn to. Now, with the reintroduction of Bruce as Caitlyn, Rob is a man apart. Left to fend for himself in a forest of duck lips, selfies, and waist trainers, Rob has retreated to seclusion in his sister Khloe's house, reportedly eating himself into obesity and depression. It's a grim scenario and one in which normal families would rally in support, but this is no ordinary family. Here's how Rob has been written out of that false reality that is the Kardashians.

As of this writing, Rob hasn't appeared on the family's hit E! reality television show in the past year and a half. It's the same show that kick-started the Kardashian family gravy train. In terms of a media absence for a Kardashian, this the equivalent of a thousand lifetimes. Many believe that Rob no longer has any interest appearing on the show, because he got sick of the drama and overall loss of privacy. There's also the issue of his weight gain. Having packed on an estimated 100 pounds since leaving the show, Rob has never been spotted in public. This is an almost unimaginable feat unless there is some sort of special arrangement made with the paparazzi. Are we saying Kris Jenner promised them unlimited shots of her daughters in exchange for a photo blackout on her son? Possibly. Is it also possible that this whole weight gain/seclusion thing is just another storyline to be marketed and exploited like everything else pertaining to this family? We'd put money on that in a heartbeat.

Kim and Rob seem to have the most contentious relationship out of all the siblings. This might be due to Rob skipping out on Kim's wedding—the one to Kanye West, not the other two guys she was previously married to. Maybe he was just sick of going to Kim Kardashian weddings? Kim rarely misses an opportunity to take a cheap shot at Rob, especially when he's not around to defend himself. For example, she said his tattoo of ex Rita Ora looks like a cabbage now because of his weight gain. She also said "He smokes weed, drinks beer, hangs out, and plays video games with his friends all day long" to Rolling Stone. For his part, Rob posted a screenshot of a blood-soaked Rosamund Pike from Gone Girl on Instagram, comparing her character to Kim. This not only caused a social media frenzy, but effectively burned Kim for all of her trash talk. They both act like entitled children with nothing better to do than pick on each other, which we'll all stop rewarding by paying no further attention to them, right? Yeah, we didn't think that would work, but it was worth a try.

Is there something about Rob that makes him incapable of selling wildly overpriced candy or showing up to the VIP section of a club and collecting tens of thousands of dollars for letting them promote the fact that he's there? For the avalanche of money the Kardashian women somehow accrue with each new, unbelievably stupid business venture (including a custom Kim Kardashian emoji app), Rob doesn't see a dime. In fact, he's been living with Khloe for years, presumably because he can't afford the decadent lifestyle to which he's become accustomed. Couldn't they buy some kind of franchise and just pretend like he's running it or encourage him to run for office like how other wealthy families do with their black sheep siblings that they can't figure out what to do with?

Actually, Rob did get to start his own company, Arthur George. The Kardashians gave Rob a sock company. Mind you, this family is making millions off of television, books, mobile apps, modeling, clothing, and makeup. Finally having his own business venture to pursue, what does Rob turn around and do? He prices these things at $15 dollars a pair. That's right, for the privilege of wearing socks that say things like "YOLO" and "Carpe Diem" on them, you're expected to fork over the cost of a supreme pizza, fifteen McDonald's cheeseburgers, or literally anything else that's a better expenditure of your money. Seriously, don't ever buy $15 socks, unless they're mighty comfortable and don't have the acronym "YOLO" stitched into them.

Since every aspect of Kardashian life is documented for public consumption, we're always along for their annual family vacation, which hasn't included Rob in several years. Choosing to almost always go to some lavish, tropical locale, of course the Kardashians would exclude Rob. He doesn't even want to be photographed fully clothed, let alone shirtless on a beach. Don't rich people go skiing in Switzerland anymore? We're sure Rob wouldn't mind getting back in front of the cameras wearing a bulky parka and some snowboarding pants. Since Rob gets left alone in Khloe's house while everyone's away, there's the remote chance that he's reenacting our favorite scene in Risky Business and dancing in his underwear to "Old Time Rock N Roll."

There are these neat privacy laws in America that discourage, "under threat of prosecution," the unauthorized release of someone's medical records. Which is why it's interesting that a story "leaked" about Rob Kardashian getting rushed to the hospital and being diagnosed with diabetes. It's highly unlikely that any hospital employee would risk losing their job and/or getting their employer slapped with steep fines over something like this. Around the time of his diagnosis, a company that specializes in making diabetes medicines just happened to offer Rob a job as their spokesman. We're not saying that Kris Jenner (or even Rob himself) leaked this diagnosis to the press and angled a celebrity sponsorship out of it, but we are saying that she, Kim, Kourtney, and Khloe have all lent their likenesses to supplements and medications over the years after publicly dealing with some kind of corresponding ailment. The whole thing stinks suspiciously like a move out of a branding playbook, and we wouldn't put it past Kris to be pitching Rob as this generation's Wilford Brimley.