The Kardashian family is widely popular in the reality TV and fashion industries. Robert Kardashian, the father, was the first member to draw attention through his work as an attorney.
Later, his daughter Kim Kardashian spotlighted the family’s life through reality TV shows and largely contributed to the family’s fame and fortune.
However, there’s a family member who many of us have never heard about; Ellen Pierson. She had brief contact with the Kardashian family. Still, it gained her enough fame to draw the media attention at the turn of this millennium.
Ellen’s Fame
We know little about Ellen Pierson’s early life and family relationships. She prefers to stay away from the spotlight and not share much about her private matters.
Pierson was born in 1949, to American parents, in the United States. Although Ellen was known for her career excellence, she gained fame due to her relationship with Robert Kardashian in the late 1990s.
After his death, Ellen lived a private life until the early 2010s, when she revealed controversial claims about the Kardashian family.
Ellen Pierson’s Relationship With Robert Kardashian
In the late 1990s, Ellen Pierson met Robert Kardashian because of her career in real estate. They dated for around three years before they got engaged when Robert proposed for marriage in 2001.
Almost two years later, the couple got married. Unfortunately, Ellen was widowed a few weeks later when Robert passed away at the age of 59 in September 2003.
Robert Kardashian was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in July 2003, a few weeks before the couple tied the knot.
Who Was Robert Kardashian?
Robert Kardashian is a renowned American attorney and businessman. He was the first Kardashian member to gain popularity, thus laying the ground for the successful celebrity paths of the other family members. In 2003, he had an estimated net worth of $30 million at his death.
In 1995, Robert gained recognition for advocating for O.J Simpson in the murder trial known as the “trial of the century.” Robert showed up for his friend Simpson as a defense attorney. He had reactivated his expired license to practice law specifically for that cause.
Robert went through three marriages in his life. His first and longest marriage to Kris Jenner yielded the four famous Kardashian siblings: Kourtney, Kimberly, Khloe, and Rob.
Years after their divorce, Robert married Jan Ashley in 1998, but they divorced after several weeks. Ellen Pierson was Robert’s last wife, for he died shortly after their marriage.
Ellen’s Career
Ellen Pierson has been in the real estate sector since the 1970s. She established J.M Pearson Real Estate, based in Santa Clarita, California. She worked as its vice-president until its closure in 1984. According to her LinkedIn profile, Ellen earned several prestigious real estate awards.
From 1985 to 2001, Pierson served as a Title Insurance Sales Rep. She was also awarded for her performance in this role.
In 2000, she joined Heritage Escrow (in Palm Desert) as a sales director and stayed for eight years. Later in 2019, she joined Westminster Title Company, Inc and served as a corporate sales director.
Ellen’s Wealth
Ellen Pierson built her wealth from her career in real estate. She didn’t gain significant wealth from her marriage to Robert Kardashian.
After Robert passed away in 2003, Ellen faced challenging financial issues. In 2010, she filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. She also had to sell the home she owned with Robert Kardashian in Indian Wills, California.
Conflicts With the Kardashians
The Kardashian siblings had a problematic relationship with their stepmother, Ellen Pierson. In 2012, Star Magazine had a controversial interview with Ellen and Jan Ashley (Robert’s second wife). They claimed that Robert denied his biological paternity to Khloe, his famous daughter.
As a response, Khloe slammed Ellen on Twitter for this claim. She accused Ellen of marrying Robert on his deathbed to take advantage of his fortune.
Ellen responded by stating that they had dated for five years before their marriage and that Robert’s family attended their wedding.
Kris Jenner (Robert’s second wife) also had several clashes with Ellen. In 2013, she accused Ellen of abusing her children because of her claim against Khloe.
In the same year, In Touch Weekly published handwritten excerpts of Robert’s Diary. The excerpts reported an extramarital relationship with Kris Jenner, which she denied.
Kris and her children alleged that Ellen had sold those excerpts for tens of thousands of dollars. They filed a case of copyright infringement against Ellen in a federal court in California.
E! News obtained a court paper that stated that Kris and her children demanded a ruling on the ownership from the U.S copyright office.
Courthouse News also reported that Ellen was sued for $500,000. The court ruled against Ellen. To date, the conflict remains between Ellen and the rest of the Kardashian family.
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