What would you say if we told you that Kim Kardashian used to set up her own paparazzi photos, take a cut of the money, and airbrush the photos herself before they were sold to magazines?
Well, the former Splash News CEO Gary Morgan — one of the biggest agencies in the world — claims the “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” star was completely involved with the entire process, and even yelled at him about her own photo setups and payments.
Kim Kardashian Used To Make Big Bucks From Staging Her Own Paparazzi Shoots!
On this week’s episode of the Hollywood Raw podcast with Dax Holt and Adam Glyn, the former Splash News CEO opened up on his working relationship with the Kardashians. Holt opened up the conversation, saying that he’s known “for a long time” that Kim has a personal photographer — that will accompany her on “vacations.”
“I’ve known that for a long time that Kim, that Kim has like a personal photographer that will go on vacation with her, take photos of them on the beach, Photoshop ’em, make ’em look really nice, and then sell them through the paparazzi agency,” Holt says. “And it’s been a great deal for kind of everyone involved for so long. What was your involvement in getting, making sure that that deal kind of worked out for everyone’s favor?”
Paparazzi Boss Claims Kim Kardashian SCREAMED At Him Over Photograph Deals
Morgan joked, “I used to be the one that Kim Kardashian shouted at a lot,” before he went on to call the SKIMS founder “amazing” and “really helpful” in “the early days” of their working relationship. He then explained how exactly the mother-of-four played a key role in setting up her own photographs.
“You’d do the shoot, she’d orchestrate it, you had to shoot a certain way, you know, she hadn’t quite worked out where her butt was going at the time,” Morgan explained. Adding, “And so she’d have to edit all the pictures she’d have to airbrush do what she wants to do, send them back, and then we’d sell them and literally the next day.”
Wow.
Splash News Boss Claims Kim Kardashian Wanted Her Money Immediately
Morgan recalled that when he told Kim that they did “really well,” Kim asked him to “send me a check for $20,000.” When Morgan asked her what she meant, he claims Kim replied, “Well, you’ve sold them so I want the money.”
Of course, Morgan explained to Kim that the photos weren’t printed yet. Although they were sold, they have to be printed, and then he had to get paid, which takes a month through their system. Although the former CEO told Kim that she would be paid in three months’ time, he claims Kim responded, “No, I want it now.”
Gary said he told someone to go out and get the money because he didn’t want to lose a client as important as Kim Kardashian. Although he had said that she was “really helpful” in the early days, he added, “But, yeah, she was a screamer” and noted that “there’s a big culture of […] gimme the money.”
When Holt asked Gary how much money he thinks Kim has made from her own paparazzi photos over the years, Morgan pointed out that she probably didn’t make a “great deal” of money because she’s splitting the money with the agency and the photographer. However, he did admit “she’d be making hundreds of thousands…easily,” especially when she made deals with the “bling companies” to wear their products on her shoots.
Wait… Did Kim Kardashian Really Make Hundreds of Thousands Per Picture?!
After pressing the subject, Morgan admitted “Well, yeah, I mean look, should be, she might say to, well when I say per picture, I mean if she’s wearing a bracelet from Chanel and they decided they might have to give her a hundred thousand for that, if she’s got 10 things in that picture, she may have to wear it 5, 6, 7 times and get shot. But she’ll make a hundred thousand from a setup if you like.”
After Holt called the figure “insane,” Morgan revealed that they “used to make hundreds of thousands” from selling the pictures to news and magazine outlets. “You could easily get a hundred thousand dollars for Kim Kardashian the beach back in the mid-nineties if you wanted to get the front page of PEOPLE or US Magazine,” he revealed.
When Glyn asked if Morgan worked with Kim Kardashian or the whole Kardashian family, Morgan replied, “So from day one it was Kim Kardashian that we worked with directly and over time […] all the Kardashians basically and started doing it.”
“There’s no one better at manipulating this business than them,” Holt said. Going on to say that the Kardashian family “really…truly, like I would say empires, you know, that they’ve created off of knowing how to stay relevant, utilize the paparazzi, utilize the media, utilize TV shows as no one does it better than the Kardashians.”
Watch The Full Interview With Gary Morgan!
The full interview with Gary Morgan can be watched below. His comments about Kim Kardashian start at the 14:30 mark.
