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Kim Kardashian's love of Elizabeth Taylor is forever. The reality star is executive producing — and appearing in — a new docuseries about the screen legend.
Elizabeth Taylor: Rebel Superstar is the working title of the three-part BBC Arts project, which is already in production. According to a press release, the Cleopatra star's life story has always “been told as a soap opera” (the marriages, addiction and glamour), but this series looks at how she “created the blueprint for modern celebrity.” Taylor went from child star to Academy Award-winner to billion-dollar businesswoman. It promises never-before-heard audio tapes, interviews (with family, friends and colleagues) and unseen TV footage.
The Kardashians star, 43, is not playing Taylor, despite her foray into acting. She will be featured in the project as the last person to interview the BUtterfield 8 actress before her 2011 death, at age 79. Kardashian draws parallels between their successes, saying in the release, Taylor “was unapologetically herself” and “proof that you can keep evolving and changing and have different chapters in your life … pav[ing] the way for all of us who came after her with that blueprint.”
Kardashian — also a billionaire businesswoman and activist who took a slightly different path to stardom — has long been fascinated by the violet-eyed icon. Here’s proof:
Just before Taylor died of congestive heart failure in March 2011, she was interviewed by the reality star for the February 2011 issue of Harper’s Bazaar. During the conversation — which took place via phone and email after Taylor fell ill (they never met) — Kardashian couldn’t hide her fandom. “You are my idol. But I'm six husbands and some big jewels behind. What should I do?” was the Skims founder’s first question. Later on in the chat, Kardashian gushed, “I am a huge Elizabeth Taylor nerd” and praised the movie star for having “always been ahead of your time.”
For the same magazine issue, Kardashian channeled one of Taylor’s most famous roles — Cleopatra in the 1963 film — but put her own mark on it. She dubbed the shoot: “Cleopatra with a K.”
Kardashian later shared that Taylor loaned her an original Cleopatra costume for the shoot.
Kardashian’s played Taylor’s Cleopatra more than once. In 2015, she did it again for the Violet Files.
“I love Elizabeth,” she gushed in the interview. Makeup artist “Pat [McGrath] and I have had conversations about how iconic she is, and how iconic Cleopatra is. I would have done anything — I would have trusted Pat’s vision no matter what she wanted — but I was really excited that it was the Cleopatra vibe.”
In 2019, Kardashian did another Taylor shoot — wearing a sparkling Thierry Mugler gown — for 7Hollywood magazine. It didn’t go over well on social media at the time.
Kardashian has been known to pop on social media just to declare her love for “my idol.”
When Taylor died, Kardashian said the star would forever remain an icon in her eyes.
On Instagram in 2013, Kardashian recreated an iconic image of Taylor, which was snapped by Herb Ritts in in 1991, flashing her own diamond (from then-fiancé Kanye West). The caption? “#MyIdol.”
While Taylor’s White Diamonds perfume helped pad her bank account, her fortune included a vast jewelry collection, which was auctioned after her death in 2011 to benefit the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. The entire collection sold for $137 million — and Kardashian was a buyer of three jade and diamond bracelets, paying $64,900.
“It’s not just a piece of jewelry,” Kardashian told InStyle at the time. “She wore them constantly during the final years of her life and I believe they carry her spirit.” (Kardashian also bought the custom velvet jacket Michael Jackson wore to Taylor's 65th birthday party as a gift for her daughter, North. She also owns Princess Diana’s amethyst necklace and famously borrowed Marilyn Monroe’s “Happy Birthday Mr. President" dress for the 2022 Met Gala.)
Kardashian told Vogue in 2015 that she once considered buying Taylor’s home as well.
“It was just so enchanting,” she gushed, “with a garden with really pretty trellises and beautiful roses.” However, “It wasn’t realistic for me to purchase. It only had a one-car garage.”
