Exclusive: Kim Kardashian Tells Us When She Decides to Respond to the Haters

From ELLE

Every fashion brand on the planet wants a piece of Kim Kardashian, but Revolve's Michael Mente had an OG tie to the glitterati goddess. "We were friends on MySpace!" he laughed, "So the first time we tried to collaborate, it was back in 2004!"

Twelve years later, they've finally figured it out: Kim is hosting Revolve's big pool party in the Hamptons, an unofficial thank-you for selling her jewelry and the Kendall + Kylie line to millions of Kardashi-almosts worldwide.

We made it through two sets of bouncers to speak with the postmodern Cleopatra this weekend. Here's her take on race relations, the power couple balance, and the beauty of mall food courts...

You're on the cover of Forbes and your husband is a culture mogul. As a power couple, how do you know when to give advice, and when to step back?

Oh, don't step back. Kanye and I give advice to each other on a daily basis. From "Do you like this outfit?" to last night, I had him up at one in the morning because I was showing him different makeup techniques. He was not paying attention to me. And I was like, "Come on, babe! This is really important to me! I want to do this tutorial; I have a whole new idea." He was trying to be supportive, but literally, we ask each other about everything we are doing creatively. He walked in yesterday and showed me a new shoe design. "Can you wear this? Would you be mad if I wore this?" We are constantly asking each other for creative feedback.

What about online feedback? How do you decide when something is worth a response, and when to just ignore it?

Jonathan [Cheban] and I just shot a video about that yesterday! It's called "The Clapback Tutorial," and it's all about, "When do you respond to someone trolling you online?" For me, I like to respond when someone's comment is so ridiculous.

And then I keep it light and funny. But I've learned that the best advice, usually, is don't respond at all. Because a lot of people want the attention of the response. They're doing it for that. I see a lot of horrendous things written about me and I just let it go. But if I have something to say back that I think can be really funny.

You're one of the most famous big sisters in the world. What are you teaching North about being a big sister like you?

Oh, this is what we talk about all the time. Right now, because she's three, it's time to talk a lot about sharing. And North is great at sharing. She's still getting the concept of having a brother, though. Like, Penelope and Reign are her cousins, but Saint is here every day because Saint is her brother.

How do you encourage them to bond?

I like to bring her in to say "good morning." She still wants things to be all about her, because she's three! But planting that seed every morning that the day starts with you and your brother, that's how I've been doing it. And she's getting so much better. I can't wait until they can really start communicating-although once he's big enough to start grabbing her toys, we'll have to get involved in a different way.

Did that ever happen to you with your siblings?

Of course!

You wrote a Black Lives Matter essay for your app, but you can't exactly read it out loud to your toddlers. How are you teaching them about race in America?

We talk about race in America every single day in our house. The topic really does get broached, somehow, every single day. Kanye's just really vocal and I definitely know that our kids will grow up having a really good sense of their different backgrounds. I know Kanye is so excited to talk to them about how he grew up. As a little kid, they don't grasp how they might be different from other little kids. They don't understand color, or background, and that's why children are so amazing. But as they get older, we plan on talking to them a lot about where they came from.

How?

I took North to Armenia because I wanted her to see parts of my heritage-because that's her heritage, too. And I know Kanye will talk to them about his side. I want them to know their lives matter. I want them to feel safe in this world. Will they? I hope so. But that depends on all of us, doesn't it?

It does.

Okay, total topic change: As an LA girl, did you go to the mall a lot?

The Sherman Oaks Galleria?!

Okay, so if I gave you a hundred dollar gift card to a mall food court, what would you buy?

Oh my god, growing up, the food court at the mall was my favorite thing. If you gave me a hundred dollars, first of all, that's a lot for a food court. And I would spend it all on Orange Chicken with Chow Mein Noodles, throw in extra fortune cookies, and that's all I would want. I just more recently got more into Cinnabon, but I'll never crave it like I crave Panda Express.

When was the last time you had it?

Oh, recently! I was with Jen Atkin, and she brought it up, I swear, it was her! We were in an airport where they had one, and I said, "Don't worry, I've got this, we're between flights, we can make a Panda Express stop work." We get there, we order everything, and we have no cash on us. So I put down my black AmEx card because it's all I had! Jen freaked. She's like, "How are you paying for Panda Express with a black American Express?!" I'm like, "You don't understand how much I used to love this stuff. It counts as a luxury!"

Now what if I gave you a $100 gift card to Revolve.

What do I get from there? Velvet chokers with cross chains.

The choker is here for the long haul?

I can't get rid of them. I love them. I want chokers to stay around a little bit longer. I hope so, anyway. Let's keep them going!