Keep Up With the Kardashians' Trial

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By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Apr 20, 2022 1:31 AM CDT
Updated Apr 20, 2022 4:20 AM CDT
What Happened on Day One of the Kardashian Trial
In this courtroom artist sketch, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Gregory W. Alarcon sits in court in Los Angeles, Tuesday, April 19, 2022.   (Bill Robles via AP)

Kris Jenner falsely accused Blac Chyna of physically abusing Jenner’s son Rob Kardashian in a broader effort to force the couple’s reality show Rob & Chyna to be canceled, Chyna’s lawyer said Tuesday during opening statements in a Los Angeles trial. Chyna, a model and former reality star whose legal name is Angela White, is suing the Keeping Up With the Kardashians matriarch and her daughters Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian, and Kylie Jenner for lost earnings from the end of the 2016 spinoff after one season, and the loss of celebrity earning power that resulted from it. “Kris Jenner set out to have Rob & Chyna canceled,” Chyna's lawyer Lynne Ciani told the jury, as Jenner and the other Kardashian women sat in the front row of the gallery. “And she brought in her three daughters to help accomplish that.”

The defendants' attorney, Michael G. Rhodes, began his opening statement by introducing his clients and having them stand, saying that Kris Jenner “manages the vast empire that this family has built from scratch” and calling Kim Kardashian “one of the world’s most famous people.” Chyna, he said, badly wanted what they have, the AP reports. “The evidence is going to show you that Miss White would say or do anything to be part of this family,” Rhodes said. He said the couple's reality show was canceled by the E! Network not because of any machinations by the Kardashians, but because they broke up. “There is no Rob & Chyna show if there is no Rob and Chyna,” Rhodes said.

Both sides agree that on Dec. 4, 2016, a day Chyna and Rob Kardashian celebrated the renewal of their show for a second season, the two got into a terrible argument that permanently damaged their relationship. The differing accounts of that day will take up much of the trial that's expected to last seven to 10 days. All four defendants are expected to take the stand. Chyna took the stand in the last minutes of the day, describing her early life and big initial break when the rapper Drake saw her working as a stripper in a Miami club and named her in a song. She returns to the witness chair on Wednesday. She is suing the Kardashian family for $100 million in the lawsuit first filed in 2017, alleging defamation and interference with contracts.

(More Blac Chyna stories.)

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