Kim Kardashian insists marriage was for love, not TV

Kim Kardashian. AFP FILE PHOTO

SYDNEY—Reality television superstar Kim Kardashian Wednesday hit back at speculation her lavish wedding was a stunt, saying her short-lived marriage to Kris Humphries was for love, not television.

In Sydney to promote her new handbag range, the celebrity revealed her pain after filing for divorce on Monday from basketball player Humphries, who she married less than three months ago.

“It’s a hard time right now,” said Kardashian, known for the reality show “Keeping Up with the Kardashians”, who was mobbed by photographers and fans as she arrived at Sydney airport.

“I don’t really think I’m ready to get into the details of it. You know, I am following my heart,” she told Australia’s Network Ten.

The 31-year-old, who has been married and divorced once before, said it was painful to hear talk that her August 20 wedding to towering New Jersey Nets power forward Humphries, 26, was not genuine.

“I think that’s probably the hardest part, just from the start there have been so many different reports that just aren’t true. Like my wedding cost $10 million,” she said.

“I married for love, anyone that would, you know, get married for a TV show, it’s just, you know, ridiculous and it’s just sad that I even have to defend that.

“I guess that’s the kind of scrutiny you get when you live your life on a reality show but everything I do is, you know, just for love. I’m a hopeless romantic.”

Kardashian said had made a donation to a charity to cover what people would have spent on wedding gifts, feeling that this would be a better contribution than returning the presents.

Asked why she decided to continue with her plans to come to Australia so soon after the break-up she said he wanted to honour her prior commitment.

“I guess I kinda wanted to escape and come out here,” she said.

Kardashian became a household name in 2007 thanks to a sex tape with her then-boyfriend, and the ongoing “Keeping Up” series which tracks the dramas of her affluent Los Angeles family.

She announced her impending divorce on Monday, with court documents citing “irreconcilable differences” as the basis of the application.

In a statement on her website on Tuesday, Kardashian said she wanted “a family and babies and a real life so badly that maybe I rushed in to something too soon.”

“I felt like I was on a fast rollercoaster and couldn’t get off when now I know I probably should have,” she said.

“I got caught up with the hoopla and the filming of the TV show that when I probably should have ended my relationship, I didn’t know how to and didn’t want to disappoint a lot of people.”