Viewers of The Kardashians were left feeling for the famous family's youngest sister Kylie Jenner earlier this month when she broke down in tears on camera discussing how trolls criticise her cosmetic surgeries in a frank conversation with sister Kendall.
The fresh comments came after an unflattering photo of the mum-of-two was taken at Paris Fashion Week in January, where she had decided to wear minimal make-up. She said, "I’m wearing too much makeup and it’s like, ‘You’re wearing too much makeup.’ Then I go and I don’t wear a lot of make-up and someone catches me in a weird light."
The 26-year-old continued, "It’s like a miracle that I still have confidence and I can still look in the mirror and think that I am pretty," when discussing trolls that have attacked her over looks. "I’ll see some comments, and some people will be like, ‘This is really mean,’ and defend me. ‘Why are we talking about her looks? It’s 2024.’ And then I’ll see other comments like: ‘Because she did it to herself – she f***ed up her face, she had so much surgery.'"
Kendall tried to provide some assurance to her little sister, saying, "I think that’s a general thing with our family. We’re dehumanised. They don’t think that there’s any rules with us. Whereas like, if you talked the same way you do about us about any other woman, people would come to their defence all day long. But for some reason with us, it’s like they don’t think we have any feelings."
And although it is the trolls' comments that reduced Kylie to tears, a source tells Closer that the billionaire is her own worst critic when it comes to her looks.
The source says, "Kylie is extremely self-conscious about her appearance. She’s had deep insecurities about the way she looks since she was very young, which is the whole reason she had so much plastic surgery before she was 25. But unfortunately, no matter how many procedures she gets her insecurities never seem to go away.
"Now instead of fixating on what she wants to change about herself, she obsessively worries that she’s gone too far with the surgery and needs to get more to correct the mistakes. She's very defensive about it and tries to act like she’s totally happy with how she looks now, but behind closed doors she spends an agonising amount of time second guessing and worrying that she’s gone way too far.
"She reads the mean things people say about her online and it really gets to her, to the point where it’s difficult for her to leave the house a lot of the time. She uses so many filters on her photos and videos even after all the money she’s spent on surgery because no matter how much she gets done, it’s never enough to alleviate this deep feeling that she just doesn’t measure up, which is why she keeps going back for more."
Kylie spent years denying that she had altered her looks, claiming that her oversized lips were the result of clever make-up tricks, which she then used to sell her Kylie Cosmetics range of products. However, in 2019, she finally admitted to having lip filler.
She said at the time, "People think I fully went under the knife and completely reconstructed my face, which is completely false. I'm terrified! I would never. They don't understand what good hair and make-up and, like, fillers, can really do. It's fillers. I'm not denying that."
And last year, she revealed she had a breast augmentation when she was 19, which she now regrets. She told friend Stassi Karanikolaou during an episode of The Kardashians, "You know I got my breasts done before [getting pregnant with] Stormi. Within six months of having Stormi, not thinking I would have a child when I was 20. Like, they were still healing.
"I had beautiful breasts, like, natural t*ts. Just gorgeous, perfect size, perfect everything. I just wish, obviously, I never got them done to begin with. Obviously I have a daughter, too. I would be heartbroken if she wanted to get her body done at 19."
The source continues, "Kylie does have moments where she feels really good and is happy with how her surgeries have turned out, but all it takes is one bad photo, or seeing herself from the wrong angle, to send her into a total meltdown where she starts believing all the horrible things being written about her online. Her family and friends do their best to be supportive but it’s hard to say the right thing to her because she’s so incredibly sensitive and is always second guessing herself.
"She also seems to want to live in this delusion, where everyone has to go along with her claims that she’s not had much surgery done. It’s exhausting for the people around her because being honest is a recipe for disaster, so anytime the topic of her surgery comes up people are walking on eggshells trying not to say the wrong thing.
"Basically, the only answer that works is to agree with her and tell her that she looks totally natural and is just the victim of jealousy. And even that doesn’t really stop her from running back to the surgeon’s office over and over again.
"It’s incredibly dangerous because she has unlimited amounts of money and she’s surrounded by people who are either just as surgery obsessed as she is, or too scared to tell her the truth, so there’s no telling how far she’ll go. It’s actually really sad, but not many people see it that way, or sympathise with her, because she’s built this whole brand pushing an image of her own perfection and profited off it.
"There’s definitely this feeling that she deserves this and is only reaping what she’s sewed, but if people knew how much she suffers over this they probably wouldn’t be so quick to judge."