KEEPING UP

The Year in Kardashian: A Complete Recap of Kim, Kylie, and America’s Real First Family in 2018

Everything involving America's real first family in 2018, from the drama to the triumphs.

by Lauren McCarthy

Kanye West Yeezy Season 3 - Backstage
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

In 2018, keeping up with the Kardashians was a competitive sport where only the strongest survived. You could get whiplash trying to keep track of all the headlines flying around about Kim, Kourtney, Khloe, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, to mention the rest of their rapidly expanding brood (lest you forget, this year welcomed in three new Kardashian babies). Should you find yourself at the year’s end wondering just what you missed or what you wish to revisit, we’ve rounded up all the biggest Kardashian stories of the year, and compiled them into a handy, month-by-month guide to everything that happened to America’s first family over the past 12 months. Here, a year in Kardashian.

January

The year started off with a bang in land of Kardashian, with the arrival of a brand new family member: Chicago West! While it was first reported that her name was Louis Vuitton, thanks to some cryptic Instagram posts by Kim, we would all soon come to know this little bundle by her true given name, or Chi for short. Meanwhile, Kendall opened up about up her potential future children in an interview with Cara Delevingne, saying, “It’s going to be interesting to see what the world is like when I do have kids. But I definitely don’t plan on having them anytime soon.” All five sisters came together, sans children, to pose for their first Calvin Klein campaign, which includes the now infamous “pregnancy quilt.” No word, meanwhile, on what Kanye thought of those ads, though we did learn that he sends Kim fashion declarations over e-mail, such as, “You cannot wear big glasses anymore. It’s all about tiny little glasses.” And, amazingly, the little glasses trend did fizzle out!

February

Or otherwise known as the month Kylie returned. After a nearly six-month disappearance from the public eye and nonstop pregnancy rumors, it was confirmed that indeed, the youngest Kardashian-Jenner had been with child and now was mother to a daughter, Stormi Webster. The 20-year-old mogul broke her silence with a 10-minute long video chronicling her pregnancy journey with partner Travis Scott. Unsurprisingly, that pretty much dominated the family’s news cycle for the month, as Kylie also launched a new beauty collection inspired by her new daughter, and possibly lost Snapchat $1.5 billion with a damning tweet. Otherwise, Kim all but won Valentine’s Day with her candy heart KKW perfumes, which she sent to loved ones and enemies alike.

March

In March, Khloe, otherwise quiet in the last trimester of her own pregnancy, revealed that she would be having a girl. Kim similarly revealed the first picture of her own baby girl, Chicago, who, like her siblings North and Saint before her, is impossibly cute, even by baby standards. Kendall had perhaps the newsiest month, all thanks to one Vogue cover story, in which she addressed the rumors that she might be gay for the first time. “I don’t think I have a bisexual or gay bone in my body,” she said. But, FYI, she isn’t ruling out future experiences. “Who knows?!” she said. “I’m all down for experience—not against it whatsoever— but I’ve never been there before.”

April

At long last, Khloe is a mom! On April 12, Khloe announced that she and Tristan Thompson had welcomed a baby girl, which we would soon learn was named True. However, it was all good news; just a day prior to giving birth, videos surfaced online of Thompson in the midst of cheating on Khloe in a club. Deep sigh. And unfortunately, completing the circle of life, we had a death in the family: R.I.P. DASH stores, once the precipice of bodycon dresses, peasant blouses, and bedazzled Kardashian novelty t-shirts. May it rest in peace. In happier news, Kourtney celebrated her 39th birthday, and Kylie Jenner went to Coachella, fully embracing what we already knew: she’s not a regular mom, she’s a cool mom.

May

May was a (relatively) quiet month for the Kardashian brood. Kim, Kendall, and Kylie all attended the Met Gala, but there was no Kardashian equivalent of Beyonce and Solange’s “elevator incident,” so we’ll call it a wash. Kim celebrated her fourth wedding anniversary with Kanye by going blonde (his favorite of her many hair colors), and later drew criticism for taking a meeting at the White House with President Donald Trump to discuss prison reform. Khloe and Tristan made their first public appearance together post-cheating scandal, and Kourtney reportedly gave her blessing to another controversial couple: Scott Disick and Sofia Richie.

June

Kim won an award! Specifically, the first ever Influencer Award at the 2018 CFDA Awards. Ironically, this was also the month that she declared selfies to be over (only to get back into them a week later, of course). Kylie took her own social media stance, deleting all existing photos of Stormi, after reportedly receiving kidnapping threats. In their place, she posted a tutorial of herself making matzo ball soup, for some reason. Meanwhile, Kendall sparked something of a tabloid frenzy when photos surfaced of her making out with Anwar Hadid, younger brother of fellow models and her besties, Gigi and Bella. Six months later, we still don’t really have any clarity on what was going on there.

July

While the other Kardashians were taking it slow during the winter months (Kim’s biggest news was that she got a bob for a hot minute), Kylie had a rather busy month. First and foremost, she removed her lip fillers, her personal calling card. Then, she scored a Forbes cover with the headline, “Youngest Self-Made Billionaire Ever.” It turns out, people are really buying those lip kits! She also acknowledged the so-called “Kardashian curse” on all men who enter the family’s orbit, telling GQ, “They come and can’t handle it…. But it’s not just men—it’s friends, it’s people who come and just don’t know how to handle it. It’s the negative.”

August

The summer slump is over. The latest season of Keeping Up With the Kardashians premiered, promising lots of behind-the-scenes looks at all the gossip you’ve read about up until this point. Kylie also celebrated her 21st birthday in proper Kardashian fashion, throwing an all out rager that brought out the entire family. Everyone looked so hot that Kanye even felt compelled to release a new song on which he declared he would like to “smash” all of them. But it wasn’t all fun and games. Kim and Kourtney entered something of a war, reignited thanks to a previous war currently being aired on their reality show, during which Kim called Kourtney the “least interesting to look at.”It was a generally tough month for Kourtney, who also broke off things with boyfriend Younes Bendjima after a year and a half of dating. But it wasn’t perhaps as bad of a month as her half-sister Kendall had, thanks to her now infamous comment in LOVE Magazine, where she referred to other models as “those girls,” saying, “Since the beginning we’ve been super selective about what shows I would do. I was never one of those girls who would do like 30 shows a season or whatever the fuck those girls do. More power to ’em.” She later apologized.

September

Let’s begin with what was, somehow, one of the biggest stories of the month: Kylie Jenner tried milk with cereal for the first time, at the ripe age of 21. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, on to more exciting news. Despite a brief report that she’d reconciled with Younes, Kourtney was spotted out and about with 21-year-old Luka Sabbat, getting “cozy” with the young influencer. Kim had a busy month herself, visiting Donald Trump at the White House once again, and cheering on North as she walked in her very first fashion show.

October

Kim turned 38, Khloe threw a half birthday party for True, and Kourtney revealed she’s now eating gluten and dairy again. But this is October, so of course the most monumental occasion was Halloween. The sisters collectively all but broke the internet posting pictures of themselves as Victoria’s Secret Angels, clad in wings provided to them by Victoria’s Secret. Of course, that wasn’t their only costume. Kourtney went as Ariana Grande, Kendall dressed up as a fembot, and Kim went as Pamela Anderson, for which she caught fire for calling party-goers the “R” word when they didn’t recognize who she was. She later apologized.

November

Birthday girl Kendall jenner had a big month here. Ahead of her 23rd birthday, the model appeared to get serious with her new boyfriend, Ben Simmons, by flying to Philadelphia to catch one of his basketball games. She also walked in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show alongside Gigi and Bella Hadid. Kylie dyed her hair platinum blonde as she joined Travis Scott on tour, and Kim revealed that she was on ecstasy when she filmed that infamous sex tape. And on the final day of the month, momager Kris Jenner stole the spotlight as she made a cameo in Ariana Grande’s “Thank u, next” music video as Amy Poehler’s “cool mom” character from Mean Girls.

December

Khloe ended the year with a bang by dying her hair platinum and then bubblegum pink. Kylie fired back at an online prank that orchestrated photos to make it look like Travis Scott was cheating on her, while Kourtney politely declined John Mayer’s advances. Kendall wore yet another sheer dress, but, more importantly, was named the year’s highest paid model. Kim ended the year with a photo shoot with her daughter North, but of course you can’t have the holidays without the annual Kardashians Christmas card!

And there you have it: the year in Kardashian. Whew.