Kim Kardashian Defends Decision to Become a Lawyer After Critics Call out Her ‘Privilege’

Kim Kardashian is responding to critics of her decision to take the California State Bar Exam in a lengthy message addressing her extreme wealth and privilege.

The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star, 38, revealed she was working toward becoming a lawyer in a recent interview with Vogue, announcing that she had begun a four-year apprenticeship with a San Francisico law firm with the intention of taking the Bar Exam in 2022. Despite Kardashian’s recent involvement with criminal justice reform efforts, the announcement was met with shock from many who thought the star was using her social status and money to buy her way into a profession.

Monday, the beauty mogul took to Instagram to defend the work she has been doing and intends to do.

“Last year I registered with the California State Bar to study law,” she began alongside a photo of herself studying for the exam. “For the next 4 years, a minimum of 18 hours a week is required, I will take written and multiple choice tests monthly. As my first year is almost coming to an end I am preparing for the baby bar, a mini version of the bar, which is required when studying law this way.”

Seeing comments from people saying “it’s my privilege or my money that got me here,” Kardashian insisted “that’s not the case.”

“One person actually said I should ‘stay in my lane,’” she continued. “I want people to understand that there is nothing that should limit your pursuit of your dreams, and the accomplishment of new goals. You can create your own lanes, just as I am. The state bar doesn’t care who you are. This option is available to anyone who’s state allows it.”

She then addressed people who wondered how she would be studying to become a lawyer without a college degree, writing, “It’s true I did not finish college. You need 60 college credits (I had 75) to take part in ‘reading the law,’ which is an in office law school being apprenticed by lawyers.”

Shutting down people calling her path to the Bar “the easy way out,” she added, “My weekends are spent away from my kids while I read and study. I work all day, put my kids to bed and spend my nights studying. There are times I feel overwhelmed and when I feel like I can’t do it but I get the pep talks I need from the people around me supporting me. I changed my number last year and disconnected from everyone because I have made this strict commitment to follow a dream of mine – It’s never too late to follow your dreams.”