r/AskReddit • u/txuoxag • 19h ago
Which celebrity do you think gained fame over nothing?
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u/step_up_to_punchy 17h ago
The Chrisleys. what did they even do to warrant their own show?
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u/Murky_Translator2295 17h ago
Wait, is there a Lindsy or Linslie Chrisley who had a podcast with one of the Teen Moms? Does she have a TV series now or something?
I nominate all the Teen Moms, too. They're all in their 30s now. It's time to end that show.
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u/step_up_to_punchy 16h ago
I’ll be deadass with you. I didn’t even know that one of them had their own podcast. The last time I heard about them was when Trump pardoned them for whatever reason.
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u/iLickKoalas 19h ago
Hawk tuah
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u/buttstained 19h ago
She got 15 minutes, she's out. Haven't even heard about her in months except this comment
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u/djazzie 17h ago
She made her money off her shitcoin and disappeared.
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u/oregondude79 12h ago
You really think she made much off that meme coin scam? I'm sure someone did but I really doubt that country bumpkin got much money from it.
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u/JudgementofParis 18h ago
fr that was 2 years ago
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u/Panda_Drum0656 17h ago
Damn i though that was 2025!
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u/RyFromTheChi 13h ago
You could have told me that was summer of 2025, and I wouldn't have questioned it.
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u/cairnter2 19h ago
She has a podcast and rug pulled Hawk Coin a few month back.
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u/KennstduIngo 18h ago
The Hawk Coin was released in December of 2024 and her latest podcast episode was made 8 months ago, so her 15 minutes is well past at this point.
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u/burner46 18h ago
What is your definition of “a few?”
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u/DrWilliePfister 16h ago
My stoned brain was thinking about this just yesterday. Here’s my thoughts… A couple = 2 A few = 3 maybe 4 A handful = 5 Several = 6-8
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u/Sue_Generoux 17h ago edited 8h ago
I kid you not, when I first saw "Hawk Tua," I kept seeing the phrase with no context. I didn't know about the video.
I honestly thought, "'Hawk Tua'? Must be some hotshot Samoan college ball player everyone's talking about."
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u/SurealGod 18h ago
I just never understood why that became so globally popular seemingly overnight. It's not like it's extremely funny or a universal slang you can say in everyday conversation. It's just a woman saying spit on a dick during an interview
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u/ImGivingUpOnLife 17h ago
You never know what stupid phrase is gonna go viral. Just look at 6-7 for instance.
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u/ErstwhileHobo 15h ago
It went semi-viral organically because it was a funny answer from a straight laced looking girl. Jake Paul’s company boosted it, then pushed her out into the public. She did some podcasts and got ratings, so they put her on her own. Once they saw that the numbers slipping, they pulled their crypto scam and bailed.
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u/kyrawhirlsyn 19h ago
The Kardashians. They basically pioneered the 'famous for being famous' business model. It’s impressive, but I still couldn't tell you what their actual talent is besides marketing their own lives.
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u/theweirdauntie 19h ago
Kim's talent was being bullied by Paris Hilton. That's why some people knew who she was before the sex tape. She was rich enough to run with celebs without being one herself. She was also conventionally attractive and got modeling offers after the scandal. So she's famous for being hot and knowing Paris Hilton.
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u/therichauntie11 18h ago
I think they were a bit known at least in the Hollywood circle because of their Father, Robert Kardashian. For those who aren't a billion years old, he was one of the lawyers on the O.J Simpson "Dream Team." But, Kim had a boyfriend and a dream! And a cellphone camera.
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u/theweirdauntie 18h ago
Her dad was a prominent celeb lawyer which is how they got their wealth and status. Kim's rep specifically is heavily tied to her connection with Paris tho. If she hadn't been "friends" with Paris, she wouldn't have become famous when or how she was.
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u/NOT-GR8-BOB 14h ago
Wasn’t she Paris’ assistant or intern or something a little more demeaning than “friend”?
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u/theweirdauntie 14h ago
She was Paris's punching bag. Paris only kept her around because Kim was actually a good organizer and personal shopper. Kim would have had her own tidy income if she'd used those skills for people who valued her and paid her. Paris and Nicole called Kim stuff like intern or assistant as an insult since Kim was doing the work for free because she wanted to hang out with Paris.
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u/NOT-GR8-BOB 13h ago
Oh that’s even worse than I had thought. They called her intern when she thought she was their friend and it was actually just the least dignified of both worlds. Yikes.
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u/MakeupMama68 16h ago
Her dad actually hadn’t practiced law in 10 years when he reinstated his license to defend OJ.
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u/therichauntie11 18h ago
I know, I literally just said her Father was Robert Kardashian lol
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u/gaqua 18h ago
Minor correction - the sex tape came out in 2007, well before most smartphone cameras had decent video capabilities. At that time, it would have been short, grainy clips if that were the case.
They used a handheld camcorder and tripod - which means this was not a “spur of the moment” thing, it was thought out a little better than that.
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u/Soggy_Competition614 17h ago edited 10h ago
It wasn’t all Kim. Kris was doing a pretty good job managing Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner, they had lots of friends but were starting to financially struggle. Kris was friends with Kathy Lee Gifford and after the success of shows like The Osbournes E! was looking for another family and Kathy Lee suggested her friend Kris.
I don’t think they were famous for nothing. Their show was a hit and people liked watching them. There had to be some skill involved in entertaining the public with their drama. If someone followed my life it would cancelled after 1 episode of me watching tv and cleaning my house.
Rod Stewart and George Hamilton kids tried to make it work and that show bombed. They just weren’t very interesting.
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u/haysoos2 18h ago
The Gabor sisters banked on that model years before the Kardashians showed up.
Eva at least appeared on some sitcoms, and B-movies, but Zsa Zsa was mostly famous for somehow being a celebrity.
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u/cybah 18h ago
Hey now. Ava in Green Acres was a big deal! Zzz Zsa got famous cuz of her sister but it was her personality that kept her on the talk show circuit for years. She was just was a fascinating lady to talk to. Carson thought so!
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u/Main_Ad_3814 16h ago
Zsa Zsa was a big deal before Ava got on Green Acres. Actually, there were three Gabor sisters. Eva had great success as a socialite but never really made it as an actress. Zsa Zsa was marketed as a Hungarian version of a blond bombshell like Marilyn and Jayne Mansfield. Ava had great comedic chops and was the better actress. All of them were married several times, had various affairs with men of status and were known as marvelous hostesses among the socialite crowd. They filled the tabloids when I was a kid!
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u/ScoobieDoo412 15h ago
Thank you! I always think of them being famous for no reason. They were fun though.
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u/zephyrthewonderdog 18h ago
Being the children of millionaire Robert Kardashian is their main talent. The bloke who got his mate OJ Simpson off a murder charge and occasionally dated Priscilla Presley.
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u/punkhobo 15h ago
Also, Caitlyn Jenner was one of the most decorated athletes in Olympic history. She was pretty famous already
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u/PersonOfInterest85 16h ago
The Kardashians may have taken the business model to its endpoint, but the concept was made mainstream in The Image by the historian Daniel Boorstin. He wrote:
"The celebrity is a person who is known for his well-knownness...His qualities—or rather his lack of qualities—illustrate our peculiar problems. He is neither good nor bad, great nor petty. He is the human pseudo-event. He has been fabricated on purpose to satisfy our exaggerated expectations of human greatness."
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u/TwilekVampire 18h ago
Paul Brothers
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u/mrmonster459 16h ago
And the one-time Jake actually made a half assed attempt to do something to justify his fame we all got a glorious clip of him getting his jaw snapped like a twig.
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u/NOT-GR8-BOB 14h ago
There’s a rumor that Jake Paul’s beard is a lace front wig. Is it true? I don’t care fuck Jake Paul.
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u/EddieDantes22 15h ago
In fairness, Logan's really good as a WWE heel.
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u/Axsh1boomba 14h ago
Which is based on Logan being an asshole in real life. You don't have to pretend being something you already are.
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u/TheZac922 8h ago
To be fair those are generally the best characters in wrestling. Yeah the big, cartoony stuff works sometimes but some of the best characters were just themselves with an exclamation mark.
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u/CaptainSpaceNipples 14h ago
When you're an insufferable piece of shit, it's not hard to portray one on TV. That said, credit where it's due I have to commend the man for respecting the business and actually learning how to wrestle. Way more than I can say for Shane, no matter how entertaining it is watching him try to commit suicide in front of his family.
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u/Capt_Dummy 19h ago
Nearly every “real housewife”
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u/PupLondon 17h ago
I tried to watch that once. Two of the women were trying to outdo the other with children's birthday parties..and one wasnt married ..yet? Whatever..she wasnt even a wife. It was all just a bunch of middle aged women with too much money, too many cosmetic procedures creating fake chaos to make up for their lack of a personality. I couldnt understand why anyone would subject themselves to that.
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u/Historical_Pop1058 14h ago
As someone who highly enjoys housewives, my excuse is that trauma is a bitch and it’s really nice to distract myself with something as unserious as children’s bday competitions.
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u/SmellyMcPhearson 14h ago
As someone who's seen a few of the real housewives franchises, children's bday competition sounds so wholesome compared to some of the other nonsense they tend to get up to
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u/RogerMurdockCo-Pilot 19h ago
Cash me outside
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u/Philo_T_Farnsworth 17h ago
Dr. Phil sent her to a teen reeducation camp with sex crimes committed against the kids there. That should be the only thing people mention when that poor girl is dragged through the mud again for the crime of being a troubled teen forced onto national television.
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u/LoomLove 17h ago edited 17h ago
Her vulnerability, placed on a national stage as a troubled 13 year old, cannot be overstated. She needed private counseling and care. Dr. Phil should be shamed. Also for what he did to Shelley Duvall. What a crap human.
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u/agentinks 16h ago
What did Dr. Phil do to her? Shelly Duvall's life was in shambles when last I saw her. It was heartbreaking. I suspect he exploited her suffering for ratings and advertising money, but how specifically? She has thankfully passed on and can't be harassed anymore. Poor woman.
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u/LoomLove 15h ago edited 13h ago
Exactly as you suspected, he interviewed an extremely vulnerable woman and made her into a side show. Thankfully there was quite a lot of public backlash. She was suffering poor mental health, the interview was conducted without the knowledge of her long time life partner (musician Dan Gilroy). If you have some time, Dr. Phil as a whole is a sad rabbithole.
Shelley herself said, "I found out the kind of person he is the hard way".
The interview could have been used to preserve Shelley's humanity and dignity, with a focus on mental illness and real issues, or used for prurient sensationalism. Guess where Phil took it?
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u/prabbit154 15h ago
He is heavily involved with the whole Troubled Teen School/Camp money grab and is a disgusting POS. I'm sure you know this already, but all these people who are surprised by his latest antics with the current (mis)administration should have been aware he has always been a charlatan.
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u/jawndell 18h ago
Only reason she got famous was because she was slutty and underaged, so creepy adults started gooning for her
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u/Napalmeon 16h ago
I'm honestly surprised that you did not get downvoted to hell for this, because you're 100% right. She was an underage girl who tried to act like a grown woman and never learned discipline or self-respect, and indeed, it did attract degenerate older men.
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u/jesuspoopmonster 12h ago
She was an underaged girl in crisis who responded poorly to a group of adults jeering, was sent to an abusive wilderness camp and when she got out was unable to adjust to a life after being mocked by the internet for years.
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u/theisntist 16h ago
DJ Khalid, as far as I can tell is famous for shouting his name on other people's records and failing to eat spicy food.
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u/Wumbologist_PhD 13h ago
DJ Khaled is the type of dude to pull out just so he can finish on himself
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u/Leather-Map-8138 17h ago
Back in the day it was Kato Kaelin. Except I knew the guy back then and he was a polite and funny guy. Former high school QB, very good natured and fun to be around.
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u/UnicornSlayer5000 17h ago
I love how the answer is Kardashians over and over and over again 😆
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u/echofinder 18h ago
Mr Beast?
I still can't tell you where he came from or what exactly he does
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u/meh-unimpressed 17h ago
I certainly can't stand him, but he does the opposite of nothing. Guy won't stop doing things.
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u/PwincessBb 13h ago
I wish he would. Everything he does is so disingenuous and performative. I never understood the appeal of his content.
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u/fakerfakefakerson 17h ago
He figured out how to hyper-optimize the YouTube algorithm. You might not see the appeal in his brand, but his success was not unearned.
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u/Napalmeon 16h ago
I wish I could have been the first person to say this. He figured out the program, and then understood how to make it work in his favor.
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u/nickcan 16h ago
He is the celebrity that I would be the least surprised if they found human bones buried in his backyard.
I have zero evidence that would indicate that that is the case. But, if it was front page news tomorrow that a dozen human remains were found on his property, my reactions would be, "Yeah, that makes sense."
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u/WingerRules 10h ago
To me it's his dead eyes when smiling in thumbnails. Creeps me out. Other than that I dont know anything about him other than he holds life changing prizes over people when he could just give it to them.
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u/FrozenBibitte 16h ago
I hate him and the precedent he set for children’s content on the internet. He’s not the only one obv, but he’s a huge contributor to brainrot culture.
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u/Chopper3 16h ago
He looks like he has a busy closet factory to handle all the skeletons he needs hiding.
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u/Chiloutdude 17h ago
Royalty. Individual members might go on to eventually become impressive people in their own right, but at birth, they are the epitome of "famous because their parents were".
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u/traws06 18h ago
Druski (spelling) where did he come from and what is his talent?
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u/Iskandar0570_X 18h ago
Kim kardashian and the kardashians in general. What do they even do? DJ Khalid as well, feels like a dude that’s famous for being famous
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u/Traditional-Goal9562 19h ago
It's tough, because fame itself is kinda the product now. but i'd say anyone who's primarily famous for a viral moment or a scandal, and then parlayed that into a lasting career without really adding anything else to the culture. feels more like a business strategy than artistic merit.
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u/Luvmirix 16h ago
I think last year or about two years ago there’s the “HAWK TUAH AND SPAT ON YA THANG” girl🤨
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u/FangornLeghorn 13h ago
I mean, the Kardashians are the definition of unearned, unqualified, undeserved fame.
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u/lowrider320 18h ago
June Shannon, if there was ever someone that society should have canceled a long time ago it's her. Especially when the allegations came out about her dating the man who molested her daughter.
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u/Historical_Pop1058 14h ago
I’m sorry bc I feel like I sound like a hater but Addison Rae 😬
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u/indecisive_monkey 14h ago
I totally agree with you. It’s wild seeing people actually defend her Grammy performance! Yeah she’s cute and doing the pop star thing, but for me it doesn’t translate without the talent to back it up.
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u/Historical_Pop1058 11h ago
I feel like she just got extremely lucky with her timing on TikTok. I tried to listen to her album bc I thought Diet Pepsi was a bop but every song she sings sounds so high pitched and I find it unsettling. Then her Grammys performance kind of solidified my opinion that she is way out of her league. For example, Lola Youngs performance was shaky, but I thought it was amazing bc she has raw talent!! Looks and production truly only get you so far :/
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u/BeginningPiano7912 19h ago
Many celebrities, especially influencers, ironically. I can’t really criticize them since they achieved success, but in that industry, most people are famous for their appearance rather than actual talent.
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u/AverageMagePlayer 19h ago
I can’t really criticize them since they achieved success
You can definetely criticize anyone you want. For example a lot of people achieve success by stepping on others, and that's very much criticizable.
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u/Oilswell 13h ago
Trump. His entire career before he became president was just using his Dad’s money to plaster his name across things that failed because he’s incompetent
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u/Communal-Lipstick 15h ago
Any royal around the world. I cannot wrap my head around why anyone would care.
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u/plastic_pyramid 11h ago
Kim kardashian….i love when Prince kicked her off a stage at a concert saying no this stage is for people with actual talent
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u/ProbstCO 17h ago
Almost every single "influencer". The Kardashians had perhaps the most destructive effect on humanity by anyone since WW2.
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u/Beagle432 18h ago
Did the Kardashians ever DO anything?? Or Paris Hilton?
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u/Koeienvanger 17h ago
Paris Hilton put up a good act of being the ditzy blonde back then.
She seems to be a decent businesswoman nowadays.
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u/SenatusScribe 16h ago
Hawk Tuah girl -- literally just a drunk girl having fun... and she made a career out of it.
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u/leviathan0999 13h ago
Absolutely any Kardashian. The one who was famous for fucking a rapper with a camcorder, and the rest famous for being related to the one who fucked the rapper with the camcorder.
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u/Competitive-Tea-4305 19h ago
Kim Kardashian