10-Year-Old North West Being Labeled A 'Rude Brat' Feels Like Kardashian History Repeating Itself
The Kardashian family isn't afraid to include their children on their reality show, but should they be?
DFree / Shutterstock For the last 16 years, the Kardashian family has been a household name and has found monumental success by allowing the public into their personal lives as cameras followed their every move. From their romantic relationships, marriages, and eventual divorces, to glimpses into the lives of Kim, Kourtney, and Khloé's children, viewers have been along for the entire ride. But when will it be enough?
The question has arisen following a recent viral clip of Kim's eldest daughter, North West, 10, that has sparked hordes of backlash and criticism on various social media channels.
Many people are astounded at North's recent behavior, but is there a deeper analysis, especially considering how frequently the Kardashian family lets the public into their personal lives?
North West was accused of being a 'rude brat' after critiquing a fashion designer.
During the latest episode of Hulu's "The Kardashians," viewers were taken along with Kim Kardashian and North West as the 43-year-old mogul was being fitted for her 2023 Met Gala dress.
At the fitting with Daniel Roseberry, the creative director and designer of the French couture house Schiaparelli, North made a few comments about the gown that ruffled some feathers.
After previously seeing the dress her mother was going to wear for the Met Gala during a fitting via FaceTime, the then-9-year-old said she "loved" the look. "This was the first time North said, 'Oh wow, that's beautiful,'" Kim told Roseberry, who designed the dress.
However, North ultimately thought Roseberry could have done better and didn't hold back from sharing her thoughts with him directly. "I like the pearls. I just don't like that it comes from the dollar store," she said at one point in the conversation. She admitted that the dress made her mom look like a "Hawaiian girl with her dress all ripped."
North continued, saying that there were "way too many gaps in the pearls" and that the "diamonds ruined it," even going as far as to say the "pearls looked fake." According to Schiaparelli, Kim's draped skirt and top were made from "over 50,000 freshwater pearls and over 16,000 crystals."
The clip of North brutally critiquing the dress of a hard-working designer right to his face subsequently went viral, and many people weren't afraid to label North as a "rude brat" who not only had little regard for other people's feelings but seemed to be lacking a serious case of proper manners.
"I am all for giving children autonomy and bringing children into conversations that they're not usually part of, that's amazing, that is how they grow. But if we're going to give them that kind of power and that kind of autonomy, we need to be able to teach them how to do so tactfully and respectfully," a content creator named Dani explained, responding directly to the clip of North.
These critiques are valid. Just because North is the daughter of two of the most famous people on this planet doesn't absolve her from learning that certain things don't need to be said, especially if they aren't nice. At the end of the day, it's Kim and Kanye's job to instill good manners and make sure that all of their children grow up to be respectful and polite human beings.
However, these are obviously special circumstances because North, along with the rest of her siblings and cousins have been broadcasted and paraded on our television screens since before they were even born.
Photo: Liam Goodner / Shutterstock
The problem lies in how accessible the public is to the Kardashian children, and maybe these moments shouldn't be televised at all.
In 2014, cameras were in the hospital room during the birth of Kourtney and Scott Disick's eldest son, Mason. The entire labor and delivery were premiered for millions of people to watch, and now, almost 10 years later, we rarely see Mason in photos on Kourtney's Instagram, and his appearances on the family's reality show are practically nonexistent.
The same thing happened with Kim and the birth of North. While the show's camera crew wasn't in the room to film the actual birth, Kim's entire pregnancy was still up for viewing. From the moment Kim and Kanye announced they were having a daughter, North has become the most marketable Kardashian child to date.
She's only 10 years old. I can't think of a single 10-year-old child that understands certain things shouldn't be said in certain company. That's something you learn over time, through your parents and the lessons they teach you.
Unfortunately for us, our moments of being rude and bratty little children were never up for debate or critique by millions of people. Why can't North West be afforded that same luxury?
Of course, Kim isn't absolved from allowing not only her eldest daughter but the rest of her children, to be blasted across social media and on their reality show, but she learned it from her own mother.
Photo: Michael Moloney / Shutterstock
Kris Jenner propelled their family name into the spotlight by becoming her daughter's manager and capitalizing off of Kim's infamous 2007 sex tape with Ray J. An intimate and vulnerable moment that Kim has admitted she wished never happened, will forever be attached to her name because of how much Kris depended on it to elevate the career of Kim and the rest of their family.
During a June 2023 episode of "The Kardashians," Kim and Kris were seen having a heart-to-heart about the price of fame and the guilt Kris carried for bringing her family to fame.
"I don’t know anyone who could have handled what you… I’m so proud of you every single day for the way that you live your life," Kris told Kim. "I wish that everybody knew how beautiful and delicious your heart was, and they would never say one thing about you."
Kim immediately stopped her mom before she could say anything more. "You live in this guilt thinking like, 'I wish I didn’t, you know, help all my kids get famous.' You just can’t live like that," Kim said. "This is also our journey and we wanted this, and you just helped us fulfill our dreams and what our potential was."
When you become a parent, a lot of the life lessons and tools used by your own parents when you were growing up tend to bleed into the way you raise your children. Kim's entire life was facilitated and orchestrated by her mother in the hopes that fame would eventually reach them, and now, with her daughter North, the same pattern seems to be happening once again.
Certain moments should just never be broadcasted for strangers to form an opinion about, especially when it comes to the behavior of a 10-year-old child. North, her siblings, and her cousins should all be afforded the grace of growing up without public scrutiny because the price of fame and its impact is too great to ignore.
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.