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In 2023, Kim Kardashian is taken into account one of many largest world influencers, however there’s somebody who carved a large path earlier than her. That lady is Elizabeth Taylor. The 2-time Oscar-winning actress, popular culture icon, philanthropist, romantic, and sensible businesswoman, who took cost of her personal empire, was manner forward of her time. She paved the way in which for SKIMS, Goop, and Fenty — and nearly each different celebrity-driven model today. The late actress is who Kate Andersen Brower, writer of Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit & Glamour of an Icon, loves to explain as “the unique influencer.”

Brower notes the “parallels” between the 2 ladies of their political ardour initiatives. Taylor took on the AIDS disaster at a time when “individuals had been burning crosses in entrance of AIDS sufferers’ homes.” She says in an unique interview with SheKnows, “There was an enormous stigma that was additionally rooted in homophobia and folks had been handled like lepers who nobody would contact.” Throughout Donald Trump’s administration, followers watched Kardashian sort out jail reform to not solely get Alice Marie Johnson’s life sentence for cocaine trafficking commuted, however to additionally help in getting her pardoned in 2020.

Taylor additionally blazed a path for Kardashian in relation to “the enterprise facet” of the leisure trade. “White Diamonds was essentially the most profitable movie star fragrance for fairly a very long time,” Brower reminisces. “I grew up watching the White Diamonds business filmed in black and white the place Elizabeth appeared so glamorous.” The late actress was extraordinarily “concerned in choosing out the fragrances and was obsessive about getting it proper.” She believes that “Kim Kardashian is like that too in relation to her enterprise ventures like SKIMS.”

The Cleopatra star empowered ladies to dream that “you’ll be able to have all of it, that there are not any limits to what your energy can do on this place,” and Brower says that “Kim is unquestionably constructing on what Elizabeth began.” Kardashian has typically aligned herself together with her idols — her 2022 Met Gala look carrying Marilyn Monroe’s gown is a superb instance — however her blueprint in life appears to reflect Taylor’s journey extra.

That brings us to the inevitable comparability to Taylor’s love life. The actress married eight instances, twice to Richard Burton, whereas Kardashian has solely been married thrice — thus far. However they each appear to crave that good love which will be arduous to search out if you end up one of many world’s most well-known ladies. “It’s actually fascinating,” says Brower. “She was Kim Kardashian West for a very long time, proper? And the concept that Elizabeth Taylor was Mrs. Burton, Mrs. [John] Warner, and Mrs. [Mike] Todd… she was at all times trying to find a option to not be the only breadwinner. She wanted somebody to assist her.”

That longing need to have a mate who could possibly be their equal, and at instances, take away the burden of being so extraordinarily well-known is an enormous ask. “Tim Mendelson, Elizabeth’s assistant and buddy for an extended, very long time mentioned to me, ‘, she wanted somebody to assist her with the enterprise of being Elizabeth Taylor,’” explains Brower. She sees these working themes in Kardashian’s life, too.

“I’m certain for Kim Kardashian, she wants someone who can try this for her as effectively, ? After which they each select these unstable individuals,” the writer notes. Brower describes Kanye West’s newest chapter of anti-Semitism and social media outbursts as “unhinged” and compares it to Taylor’s Burton period with their alcohol-fueled rows that incessantly fed the tabloid headlines. “And also you consider Elizabeth, and whereas Richard Burton’s no Kanye West, he positively did some issues that had been harmful. She sought out males who had been deeply passionate,” she provides.

That’s what makes Taylor’s Sen. John Warner chapter “so fascinating.” Brower believes that “if he had given her a little bit bit extra bandwidth and leeway” and never “remoted her from occasions” in Washington, D.C., it might need been a profitable marriage. With Kardashian’s curiosity in regulation and jail reform, she simply might need an analogous chapter to her love life sooner or later. However, it must be with somebody who will let her take part within the political sport, not sit on the sidelines.

And in the event you don’t suppose Taylor and Kardashian share sufficient similarities, the fact star is already dipping her toes into the performing pond. Together with her very Kris Jenner-like function in American Horror Story: Delicate already below her belt, she’s now producing and starring in a female-driven comedy, The Fifth Wheel, for Netflix. We don’t know if Kardashian can have two Oscars in her future like Taylor, however their affect on artwork, vogue, popular culture, politics, and Hollywood is plain. Brower places them in their very own elite class as “ultra-celebrities,” the “multi-hyphenate influencers” who dared to be forward of their time.

Earlier than you go, click on right here to see each man Elizabeth Taylor dated or married beneath: