PARIS: Defiant in diamonds, Kim Kardashian appeared in a Paris courtroom Tuesday to testify in the trial over the 2016 armed robbery that upended her life. The reality star and business mogul gave emotional, at times harrowing, testimony about the night masked men tied her up at gunpoint and stole more than $6 million in jewelry.
Here’s what she revealed — and what’s still to come.
A night that changed everything
Kardashian said she was starting to doze off in bed in the early hours when she heard stomping on the stairs. She assumed it was her sister Kourtney returning from a night out. “Hello? Hello? Who is it?” she called.
Moments later, two masked men burst in. They dragged the concierge in handcuffs. They were dressed as police.
“I thought it was some sort of terrorist attack,” she said.
She grabbed her phone but froze — “I didn’t know what 911 was (in France).” She tried to call her sister and her bodyguard, but one man grabbed her hand to stop her. They threw her on the bed, bound her hands and held a gun to her back.
“I have babies,” she recalled telling the robbers. “I have to make it home. They can take everything. I just have to make it home.”
Her robe fell open — she said she was naked underneath — as one man pulled her toward him. “I was certain that was the moment that he was going to rape me,” Kardashian said.
One attacker leaned in and told her, in English, she’d be OK if she stayed quiet. He taped her mouth shut, and took her to the bathroom.
Kardashian later managed to free her hands by rubbing the tape against the bathroom sink. She hopped downstairs, ankles still bound, and found her friend and stylist, Simone Harouche. Fearing the men might return, the women climbed onto the balcony and hid in bushes. While lying there, Kardashian called her mother.
The men took a diamond ring she’d worn that night to a Givenchy show and rifled through her jewelry box. They took items including a watch her late father had given her when she graduated high school. “It wasn’t just jewelry. It was so many memories,” she said.
A changed life and constant fear
Investigators believe the attackers followed Kardashian’s digital breadcrumbs — images, timestamps, geotags — and exploited them with old-school criminal methods.
The robbery reshaped Kardashian’s sense of safety and freedom. “This experience really changed everything for us,” she said. “I started to get this phobia of going out.”
She often rents adjoining hotel rooms for protection and no longer stores jewelry at home, and now has up to six security guards at home.
“I can’t even sleep at night” otherwise, she said.
She also said she no longer makes social media posts in real time unless at a public event. Her Los Angeles home was robbed shortly after the Paris heist in what she believes was a copycat attack.
A letter and an unexpected moment of grace
In a powerful courtroom moment, the chief judge read aloud a letter from one of the accused, who is too ill to testify. The letter said he had seen Kardashian’s tears on television and expressed regret. Kardashian was visibly moved.
“I’m obviously emotional,” she said in response.
“I do appreciate the letter, for sure,” she added. “I forgive you for what had taken place. But it doesn’t change the emotion, the trauma, and the way my life is forever changed.”
Kardashian, who is studying to become a lawyer, added that she regularly visits prisons. “I’ve always believed in second chances,” she said.
Diamonds, defiance and public image
Kardashian made a fashion statement in court, wearing a $1.5 million necklace by Samer Halimeh New York. The jeweler’s press release for the necklace came out even as she was on the witness stand, a reminder that visibility remains currency, even if the rules have grown more complicated.
The choice reflected defiance and the reclaiming of the image and luxury once used against her.
Kardashian said Paris had once been a sanctuary, a place where she would walk at 3 or 4 a.m., window shopping, sometimes stopping for hot chocolate. It “always felt really safe,” she said. “It was always a magical place.”
What’s next
Twelve suspects were originally charged. One has died. One was excused due to illness. The French press dubbed the group les papys braqueurs — “the grandpa robbers” — but prosecutors say they were no harmless retirees.
The defendants face charges including armed robbery, kidnapping and gang association. If convicted, they could face life in prison.
Kardashian said she was grateful for the opportunity to “tell my truth” in the packed Paris courtroom.
“This is my closure,” she said. “This is me putting this, hopefully, to rest.”
The trial is expected to conclude May 23.
Tears, trauma and a million-dollar necklace as defiant Kim Kardashian faces Paris robbery suspects
https://arab.news/8tc63
Tears, trauma and a million-dollar necklace as defiant Kim Kardashian faces Paris robbery suspects
- The defendants face charges including armed robbery, kidnapping and gang association
Tearful Bowen Yang departs ‘SNL’ after emotional Christmas episode hosted by Ariana Grande
- He joined as a writer in 2018, became a featured player the next season, and was promoted to the main cast two seasons later
- Yang also co-hosts the podcast “Las Culturistas” and appeared as Pfannee in the “Wicked” movies
NEW YORK: Bowen Yang bid an emotional farewell to “Saturday Night Live” with music, laughter and help from his “Wicked” buddy Ariana Grande.
Yang starred in the night’s final sketch, playing a retiring airport lounge worker working his final shift on Christmas Eve, serving eggnog to travelers. He sang “Please Come Home for Christmas” and was joined by Grande, the night’s host, and Cher, its musical guest. The women joined Yang in song and hugged him.
The sketch gave Yang a chance to say goodbye to some castmates — he delightfully sprayed Kenan Thompson with eggnog — and its premise gave a chance for Yang to deliver lines about moving on. “I just wanted to enjoy it for a little longer,” an emotional Yang said. By the end of the performance, he was in tears.
The show closed with a brief photo tribute to slain director Rob Reiner and the cast curtain call.
“We love you so much,” Grande told Yang, who was a constant presence throughout Saturday’s show and drew huge applause with each appearance.
Yang joined the show as a writer in 2018, became a featured player the following season and was promoted to the main cast two seasons after that. Yang was a fan favorite with five Emmy nominations over the years.
In an Instagram post Saturday, Yang wrote: “i loved working at SNL, and most of all i loved the people. i was there at a time when many things in the world started to seem futile, but working at 30 rock taught me the value in showing up anyway when people make it worthwhile.”
Yang, coming off a huge year or two of projects, departed “SNL” mid-season.
Grande helped kick off Saturday’s show with a parody of “All I Want for Christmas is You” about buying gifts for people you barely know during her opening monologue. Yang slid onto the stage to huge cheers and helped her complete the song.
The friends appeared together often during the show, including a dance class sketch and a pre-recorded “Home Alone” sketch in which the McCallister family meet violent ends from Kevin’s leftover traps.
Word of Yang’s departure came after a major exodus of cast members last summer ahead Season 51’s start. They included Ego Nwodim, Heidi Gardner, Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker, Emil Wakim and John Higgins.
The news wasn’t entirely a surprise. Yang had publicly discussed the idea, telling People in September he had mulled it over with the NBC sketch comedy show’s creator Lorne Michaels. He got a vote of confidence from Michaels and decided to stay at that time.
“Lorne was like, ‘You have more to do,’ and that means a lot, because I even confessed to him. I was like, ‘I feel the audience is maybe getting sick of me.’ And he was like, ‘That’s not true. There’s more for you to do. I need you,’” Yang said.
Of Michaels, Yang added: “That man has changed my life, and I owe a lot of my life to that show. And I love working there. The people are the best. I really love each of them so much.”
In addition to “SNL,” Yang co-hosts the pop culture podcast “Las Culturistas” with his friend and fellow comedian Matt Rogers. He was in “Wicked” and “Wicked: For Good” as Pfannee and co-starred in the remade “The Wedding Banquet” this year.
In 2023, he appeared in “Dicks: The Musical” and “Fire Island” the year before that. He also co-starred in “Awkwafina is Nora from Queens” from 2020 to 2023.
Yang and Rogers hosted the spoof Las Culturista Culture Awards on Bravo last summer. Yang posted on Instagram that the two will be back for more pop culture comedy on the awards next year.
Mid-season departures from “SNL” are not unprecedented. Cecily Strong did it in December 2022.
Among the bits that earned Yang breakout status was his turn as the Titanic iceberg on the recurring “Weekend Update” segment, his favorite place on the show, according to an October interview with Esquire. He also played George Santos, a straight man who hooks up with Gina Gershon and Sydney Sweeney, and a gay Oompa Loompa. And he spoofed Vice President JD Vance.
Yang made a final “Weekend Update” appearance alongside former “SNL” cast member Aidy Bryant, playing characters who offered viewers tips on what trends are in and which are out for the holidays and 2026.
Yang, the son of Chinese immigrants, was Esquire’s recent cover star. In an Oct. 28 interview accompanying his cover shoot, he told the magazine: “There’s an idea that all of what I do is queer and Asian, which I don’t think is true. I get sick of people reducing the work I do on the show to those identifiers.”
Work, he said, “is not the most meaningful thing for me anymore. The things I like are spending time with friends, working every now and then, not being caged by it.”
Yang noted some advice he once received from Kristen Wiig when she hosted “SNL.”
“She was like, ‘Have fun. It’s the most fun job in the world, and you’ll miss it when it’s done. You won’t realize how much you miss it until you leave.’”
