Raise your hand if you’ve ever gone to the DMV with a full glam squad and gotten to take multiple pictures before choosing the best one for your driver’s license. Anyone? Apparently that level of service does exist because that’s exactly what Kim Kardashian experienced in a recent episode of her reality show Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
If you are wondering why, given all that is going on in the world, you should care about what happened to a Kardashian at the Department of Motor Vehicles, Jason Whitlock, host of BlazeTV’s Fearless, is making the case that it is actually reflective of an important cultural shift. On Monday’s show, he joined Megyn to discuss the incident and why Kardashian’s “vapid” behavior sends a “dangerous message” to young women.
Kim Kardashian Goes to the DMV
In an episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians that aired on Hulu earlier this summer, the 42-year-old Skims founder rolled up to a southern California DMV with her hairstylist Chris Appleton and makeup artist Ariel Tejada in tow. As she walked in with her glam and camera crews, she could be heard thanking the staff “for staying open” for her photo session.
She reasoned that Appleton and Tejada’s services were needed because a driver’s license picture is the “the most important photo you’ll ever take.” Kardashian sat scrolling through her phone as the two men put the finishing touches on her look. And when it came time to take the picture, Tejada held up a light while Appleton fine-tuned the placement of her platinum locks.
Kardashian told the DMV employee to “wait ’til I’m not smiling” so there would be “no wrinkles” in the picture. The reality star and her team reviewed the snap after the first photo was taken, at which point Appleton suggested a wider angle and the mother of four asked if they could save the original, take another, and compare the two. She was told that was not possible, but they went ahead with the second picture anyway and decided it was a keeper.
After watching the clip, Megyn called the entire situation “stomach turning.” “I can’t stand her for all sorts of reasons,” she said. “It’s not personal. I don’t think she’s evil. I just hate what she represents.”
A ‘Dangerous Message’ for Young Women
While Whitlock said he is not “someone that’s gonna sit here and argue and say Kim Kardashian is not attractive” and he recognizes that the trip to the DMV was part of a “gimmick” for her TV show, he believes “this sort of obsession with your looks is a mental illness.”
Megyn agreed that Kardashian’s livelihood is “all about appearances” and, as such, it is all that seems to “matter” to her. “Even her billion dollar brand [Skims shapewear] is all about sucking in your fat so you can look better – that’s her contribution to the world,” she explained. “I’m not saying it’s bad, but that’s where she’s making her money – looking at herself and encouraging young girls… around the world to look at themselves and have other people look at them instead of listen to them.”
Perhaps Kardashian isn’t entirely to blame. “You need a parent to say you’re being absurd, and she didn’t have that,” Megyn said of Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner. “If my daughter ever made such a deal about getting her driver’s license photo or her school photo, I’d say, ‘Knock it off. This is ridiculous… There is nothing wrong with wanting to look attractive, but this is an obsession… Get in front of the camera and smile.’”
Instead, the KUWTK star grew up with a mother “who fed her to the wolves,” Megyn noted. “And her fake law degree that she didn’t get was all just cover to try to make herself seem like she was making an effort to be an intellectual, which she’s not and never will be – she’s about vapid vanity, and I object on so many different levels.”
Whitlock likened it to athletes who are paid “because of their physicality” at the expense of developing their intellect. “She’s the same thing. She’s vapid,” he concluded. “And the fact that we place her on this pedestal, and she’s worth billions of dollars, and has access to U.S. presidents, and is considered one of the most successful and powerful people in America is a dangerous message to young women and young girls, but it’s where we’re at.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Whitlock by tuning in to episode 612 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.