Khloe Kardashian: Cameras ‘Just Happened to Be There’ for Reaction to Tristan Thompson Paternity Bombshell

It looks like Khloe Kardashian will have to emotionally ready herself for an upcoming episode of The Kardashians on Hulu. According to a very reliable source—the executive producer of the show, Danielle King—cameras were rolling the exact moment breaking news hit about Tristan Thompson’s paternity drama. Color me shocked.

While speaking to US Weekly, King confirmed that fans will get to see Khloe’s stunned reaction to the news that Tristan fathered a child with a woman named Maralee Nichols—a woman who, in January, filed a paternity suit against the NBA star.

King, of course, emphatically denied that the footage capturing Khloe’s pained reaction to Tristan’s betrayal was staged for ratings or to garner empathy from fans. “We were there to film something else early in the morning,” she said. “And the morning that news broke, we legitimately just happened to be there.” Plenty of viewers, including myself, find it hard to believe that anything the Kardashians do is pure happenstance. But, ok!

Khloe obviously hasn’t had the best luck with relationships throughout the years—a plotline that’s consistently highlighted on the show and paints Khloe as the long-suffering martyr who keeps picking the wrong guys. And Khloe, like her fame-hungry family, knows the only way to hold the attention of the masses is to create a big ole mess. She chooses the villains and aligns with them until they’re no longer needed, and then walks away with her victimhood—even richer than she was before!

When Khloe and her ex-husband, Lamar Odom, were filming their own reality show, Khloe and Lamar, they seemed like the perfect fit. But Lamar’s troubled past with drug and alcohol addiction eventually caught up to them, leading to the end of their marriage in 2016. Like Tristan, Lamar was already a father before he and Khloe got serious. And despite his track record and persistent struggles, Khloe chose to stay with him and try to make it work. When things eventually fell apart, she weaponized her victimhood to produce storylines that keep her viewers coming back for more.

As Jezebel columnist Zeba Blay wrote:

I just wonder what it’s like to live through dysfunction, self-delusion and humiliation while also performing your trauma on TV and on social media for ad dollars. I wonder if that’s why Khloé has chosen to remain entangled with Tristan, a man who doesn’t seem to love her (or himself for that matter), for so long. I wonder if the exploitation of one’s own highly toxic relationship renders it as abstract in one’s own consciousness as it does in the consciousness of those who watch, and laugh, and judge. I wonder if the money and attention are worth it. I wonder if that makes it easier to endure.

Indeed, Khloe’s dependency on NBA players who are notorious for being the exact opposite of what a faithful and trustworthy boyfriend looks like is starting to feel like a gimmick.

But sure, maybe the cameras really did just happen to be rolling that day in late December. Maybe no one planned for them to be there the moment Khloé was blindsided by the news that the father of her only child was served a nasty paternity suit from another woman. I guess it’s just more Kardashian good fortune that allowed Khloe to share her grief in real-time.