Kim Kardashian has always had a strong bond with her late father, Robert Kardashian. When he passed away from cancer in 2003, it devastated Kim and her family. In an interview with December’s GQ Magazine, where Kim’s the “Man of the Year” for her fashion line SKIMS, she revealed how she found out about her dad’s diagnosis.
It was when she, her father, and her siblings went to dinner at Carousel, a restaurant specializing in Armenian and Middle Eastern cuisine. During the meal, Robert was having difficulty swallowing his food, and when he returned to the table after excusing himself, his kids grew concerned. It wasn’t something to be taken lightly.
Kim and her older sister, Kourtney Kardashian Barker, who were both in their early twenties at the time, went to the hospital with Robert for his examination. As the eldest siblings, they bear the most responsibility. The doctor gave the sisters the grim news when the examination was completed and the test results arrived.
“Do you girls know that this is terminal?” The doctor asked them, and the sisters just glanced at one another.
Robert didn’t want to burden his family with his esophageal cancer diagnosis, so he didn’t share the news, especially his parents, with whom he was always close. Kim took the matter into her own hands and telephoned her grandparents, who resided in Palm Springs.
“I called them, and they were, like, ‘What? What are you talking about? We’ll be there in a few hours,” Kim reflected on the conversation with GQ. “They came up from Palm Springs, and [their son, my dad] was in bed. Can you imagine? They were close, and to not tell them. My grandmother was never the same again.”
Robert Kardashian passed away in September 2003, just two months after he was diagnosed. Yet, his family ensured that his passing wouldn’t be in vain. To honor Robert and secure his legacy, the Robert G. Kardashian Center For Esophageal Health at UCLA opened in 2020 so patients could take preventative measures to elongate their lives.