Why Are Kim and Kourtney Kardashian Feuding?

Kourtney Kardashian is distancing herself from her famous family. In a preview of the next episode of “The Kardashians” that aired at the end of the July 13 episode, Kourtney shared that she’s planning on spending more time with her husband, Travis Barker, to get away from issues with her siblings. “With my family, I’m like ‘protect my energy,'” she said. “And like ‘I’m married! Bye everyone!’ It’s so nice.”

Kourtney’s comments come amidst a slow-burning feud between Kourtney and her sister Kim. Fans had been speculating that the sibling duo had tension brewing for a while, and season three of their Hulu reality show dives deeper into the source of their clash — which has everything to do with Dolce & Gabbana and Kourtney’s 2022 wedding.

For context, Kourtney partnered with the fashion brand for her lavish Italian wedding to Barker in May 2022. Soon after, Kim began a partnership of her own with the brand and, apparently, Kourtney wasn’t too happy about it.

In the July 6 episode of “The Kardashians,” Kim and Kourtney finally hashed out their issues face-to-face and attempt to move past them. During their chat, Kim clarified to her sister that her partnership with Dolce was originally supposed to involve her SKIMS brand. “Then I called you,” she told Kourtney. “I said, ‘SKIMS is not doing it,’ because we couldn’t get it together that quickly. I kept saying, ‘I don’t want to do this because it’s so close to Kourtney’s wedding — I want it to be completely different.'” Kim eventually agreed, though, as the fashion brand told her they’d move forward with a show of their archived looks without or without SKIMS.

But from Kourtney’s perspective, she said to Kim, “You weren’t like, ‘Hey, I’d love to know how you feel about this.’ You called me after the deal was done.”

Later on to the cameras, Kim said that the argument of copying Kourtney’s wedding could be said about her sister, too. “I got married in Italy. Am I saying you copied me by getting married in Italy?” she said in a confessional. “Who performed at my wedding? Andrea Bocelli. Who performed at Kourtney’s wedding? Andrea Bocelli. You stole my f*cking wedding country and my wedding performer. Andrea Bocelli is my favorite male singer of all time, but I’m copying her dolce vita lifestyle? OK.”

After exchanging more thoughts about the feud, Kourtney said to Kim that “none of these details matter,” but she wished someone would’ve called to ask how she felt about Kim and Dolce working together. “I would be upset, I get it,” Kim said understanding her sister’s point of view.

Though the two sisters seemed to settle their differences in person, they still shared their frustrations in confessionals. In one, Kourtney claimed that Kim values money over family, noting that “whatever is in the moment” drives her sister to be greedy, but she doesn’t consider things “on a deeper level.” Still, Kim apologized to Kourtney at the end of their talk and said, “I’m happy for the experience,” referring to her creative director gig with Dolce, and added, “I’m sad and sorry that the experience ever hurt you.”

How Did Kim and Kourtney Kardashian’s Feud Begin?

Previously, in the June 15 episode of “The Kardashians,” Kourtney had an emotional conversation with sister Kendall Jenner where she explained the tense situation between herself and Kim. “I feel like there’s an abundance of opportunities,” she said. “It’s not about business, it’s just there’s so much and it takes precedence over hurting your sister. It’s legit copying my wedding.”

Kourtney also claimed that Kim wasn’t happy at her Italian wedding, adding that made it even more painful that her sister copied it. “She wasn’t happy at my wedding. Everyone else was like, ‘Whoa, this is amazing. We’re having the best time.’ She can never give acknowledgment of like, ‘Whoa, this is so amazing,'” Kourtney explained. “She sees everything that I had there and takes it for her own, and she doesn’t even see it. She sees it for the dollar signs, but to me, I see it. And I see it like, ‘Oh, you were there, you weren’t happy.’ Everyone said something to me, all my friends, she’s like spiraling.”

“I do think that like as sisters we also have to understand when someone has a job . . . we have to try and see where this could work for both of us, I guess,” Kendall added. Kourtney said, though, that it’s not that her sister needs to get her permission, but, “If I did it to Kim, she would freak out.”

“To me, it was more personal. I think that’s why it hurts my feelings because it was my actual wedding,” Kourtney continued. Kendall said she understood “both sides” but was sorry that the situation had ruined Kourtney’s happiness after the wedding.

Later in the same episode, Khloé told Kim that Kourtney was upset. “It’s not rational. . . . It’s not nice, on her end,” Kim said. She continued, “This is the first time I’ve heard that Kourtney is upset about us doing the Dolce show. Like I couldn’t have been more mindful.” Kim also said that she didn’t do any styles from the wedding “out of respect” for Kourtney.

In the June 22 episode of “The Kardashians,” Kourtney and Kim’s beef is addressed again. During a conversation with her stylist Dani Michelle, Kourtney asks Michelle if she watched Kim’s show with Dolce, saying, “I saw that it was the ’90s as their theme, and I thought it was just so crazy how Dolce presented us for the wedding, for all my sisters to wear and all my other looks, were all current lemon prints and things, and then we insisted that it had to be ’90s Dolce.”

“It just feels like [Kim] took the mood board we sent my family and made it, even though it’s obviously all Dolce & Gabbana clothes,” Kourtney added. “She’s putting out all these vibes from my wedding with looks that we so carefully curated, and then putting it into the fashion show.”

She continued: “The timing, cause it’s four months after my wedding, this had to be being planned and worked on for months to get such a big production done.”

Following the Dolce show, Kim talked to her family and friends about Kourtney’s reaction during dinner. “She got so mad,” Kim recalled. “She said, ‘You’re trying to copy me,’ but she always tries to hate on the side. She’s such a hater.”

Later in the episode, Kim said she just wants to make things right with Kourtney. “We need to figure out how we’re going to talk about Dolce because she doesn’t really want to talk about it,” Kim said during a phone conversation with pal Simon Huck. “I thought I was being actually really mindful. There were so many collections that I wanted to do.”

Though fans have watched Kourtney and Kim feud for much of “The Kardashians” season three, it appears the sisters have semi-resolved their conflict, for now, at least. On June 24, Kim posted a twinning photo of her and Kourtney on Instagram from her daughter North West’s 10th birthday party.

The Kardashian family’s decision to partner with Dolce & Gabbana has ruffled some feathers before, but not for the same reasons that upset Kourtney. The brand has a long history of racism and homophobia; for example, cofounders Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana reportedly told Italian magazine Panorama, “We oppose gay adoptions. The only family is the traditional one,” per Quartz. They also came under fire for an ad showing a Chinese model eating Italian food with chopsticks, among other controversies, though neither Kourtney nor Kim has addressed these issues.

New episodes of “The Kardashians” premiere on Thursdays on Hulu.