‘I thought I was going to die’: Kim Kardashian speaks up in Paris jewelry heist trial

Kim Kardashian testified in court today in Paris, giving a disturbing account of the 2016 jewelry robbery that she was a victim of. The trial involves ten defendants, mostly older men who the French media have called the “grandpa robbers.” They are facing charges including armed robbery, kidnapping, and other crimes.

Warning: Vivid retelling of break in and burglary.

Kardashian’s testimony described in frightening detail the night she was held at gunpoint in her high-end hotel room. “I thought about my sister, thought she would walk in and see me shot dead and have that memory in her forever,” she said. “I absolutely thought I was going to die.”

As found by Reuters, the reality TV star explained what happened during the robbery, starting with hearing footsteps outside her room before men dressed as police officers broke in. She described the terror of being tied up with zip ties and duct tape, with her hands and mouth bound while a gun was pointed at her. She was terrified that she would be raped or even killed, an experience that deeply affected her mentally.

Kim Kardashian details her account of the robbery

Kim Kardashian said, “we were leaving the next morning so I was just packing up, it was around 3 in the morning. I heard stomping up the stairs when I was in bed.” That’s when the men dressed as police officers barged in. “Then I heard one of the gentlemen forcefully say ‘ring! ring!’ in English, with an accent, pointing,” she said. One of them pointed a gun at her.

“I was pretty hysterical and I just looked at the concierge and told him ‘What is going to happen to us? I have to make it home to my babies’,” and she said at one point she thought that the robbers throwing her on the bed and one of them grabbing her leg meant she would be raped.

Kim continued, “but he ended up tying me up and closed my legs. I was grabbed, and dragged into the other room, and thrown onto the floor, but wasn’t hit, no.”

“I do appreciate the letter for sure, I forgive you,” Kim said to the alleged ringleader, Khedache, “but it doesn’t change the feelings and the trauma and the fact that my life was forever changed, but I do appreciate the letter, thank you.”

Khedache responded with, “Your forgiveness is a sunshine that has enlightened me … I am forever grateful.”

She also spoke about her ongoing fear that the robbers might come back to silence her as a witness. During the attack, Kardashian repeatedly mentioned her young children, begging the robbers to let her go home to them.

The thieves stole jewelry worth millions of dollars, including an engagement ring valued at $4 million. Although they took some cash, the main target was clearly expensive jewelry. Some of the stolen items had been shown in Kardashian’s social media posts before the robbery. Since then, Kardashian has greatly increased her security, now having four to six guards at her home every night.