Meet the Kardashian cling-ons: The people making it big because of the famous sisters

At some point in life you’ve probably had a conversation with your mates that if one of you becomes incredibly successful and rich that they will of course include you in their life and take you around on their fancy yacht. Because that’s just what friends do. And in the case of the Kardashians they’ve quite literally done this and been able to give their friends careers purely by being mates with them. Rich by association? I’d take it.

In fairness Kim herself started out as famous by association thanks to her friendship with Paris Hilton, so it’s only right they return the favour to their nearest and dearest.

Not only do their friends get to accompany them on fabulous trips, boujee nights out and get sent plenty of gifted items, but they also manage to get famous for being their friends and launch successful Instagram accounts and get paid by PrettyLittleThing.

Now obviously Jordyn Woods is no longer on this list after the whole Tristan cheating scandal. But here are the current Kardashian cling-ons, who made a career out of being a professional best friend:

Malika Haqq

Instagram followers: 5.5 million

Fans of Keeping Up With The Kardashians will be well aware of Malika, who is Khloé’s ride or die BFF. They’ve been close friends since they were 15 after they met when Malika was going out with one of Khloé’s male friends.

Khloé is also super close to Malika’s twin sister Khadijah who occasionally appears on the show. Speaking of KUWTK, Malika has managed to create a pretty impressive career from being Khloé’s best friend.

She’s appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in the UK, does sponsored posts for PrettyLittleThing and also released a makeup collab with Khloé for BECCA cosmetics. Malika, who is 37-years-old, has also taken part in the US reality shows Hollywood Divas and Famously Single.

Malika has done the odd bit of acting but her main claim to fame is being Khloé’s BFF. Malika has just given birth to her first child with the rapper O.T. Genasis. In fact her pregnancy announcement was sponsored by Clearblue. If that isn’t success I don’t know what is.

Jonathan Cheban aka The Food God

Instagram followers: 3.5 million

Jonathan Cheban has been on on Keeping Up With The Kardashians since the early days and is one of Kim’s best friends. He actually did have a career in PR and even created his own PR firm.

But his main focus is now being a celeb and rinsing the Kardashian fame for all it’s worth. Jonathan went on Celebrity Big Brother where he became friends with Gemma Collins. They’re actually such good friends he’s appeared on an episode of TOWIE and Gemma’s Diva Forever show, where they met Jason from Selling Sunset.

Jonathan was also on Celebs Go Dating in 2017 and Millionaire Matchmaker in 2013.

If the reality shows weren’t enough Jonathan also launched a food Instagram account where he travels around the world eating insanely cool food. Not a bad job.

He’s so into the food thing he has apparently changed his name to the Foodgod because of the account’s popularity. He’s even launched Foodgod merch and a truffle ketchup on his Instagram.

Anastasia “Stassie” Karanikolaou

Instagram followers: 9.1 million

Possibly the only person to have benefited from the Tristan/Jordyn cheating scandal is Stassie. She replaced Jordyn as Kylie’s number one bestie. When it was once Jordyn in all of Kylie’s pictures and living with her it’s now Stassie. She spent quarantine with Kylie and even has a matching tattoo about Stormi with Kylie.

Stassie is 23-years-old and has known Kylie for nearly 10 years, after meeting Kylie at a fan event in a bookshop. According to Kendall, the three of them grew up together and Stassie was always around their house.

Stassie is a model and influencer and she has over two million followers on TikTok. She’s done a video with Too Hot To Handle’s Harry which has sparked rumours that the two are dating. Especially as he posted a picture of them to his Instagram and comments peach emojis on her bikini shots.

Throughout her career as a “professional best friend” Stassie has been in Teen Vogue shoots and worked with PrettyLittleThing.

Stephanie Shepard

Instagram followers: 1.5 million

Ok so Steph started out her career as Kim’s assistant in 2013 and was often on Keeping Up With The Kardashians. But all that time with the Kardashians got Steph very close to one of the sisters – Kourtney.

And she’s now one of Kourtney’s go to BFFs, constantly on her Instagram feed and going on trips with her. Steph stopped working for Kim in 2017, and there were a number of rumours surrounding her departure, mainly that she was too close to Kourtney.

Now Steph has rebranded herself as a “beauty and wellness expert”, who is also very into the environment, having set up an Instagram account called Future Earth. Steph has hosted a number of talks on her Instagram about the planet, including one with presidential candidate Joe Biden.

She’s been interviewed for Refinery29 and Harper’s Bazaar, refers to Kourtney as her “wife” and they often do matching Halloween costumes. Not bad for someone who started out as Kim’s assistant.

The first two series of Keeping Up With The Kardashians are currently available on Netflix. For all the latest Netflix news, drops and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. 

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