In a recent interview with Cosmopolitan: Middle East, Khloe Kardashian said she finds it difficult to keep her self-esteem up when she is constantly subjected to negative comments.
“I’m the ugly sister. I’m the fat one. I’m the transvestite. I have had those mean things said about me at least twice a day for the last five years. It’s horrible, you know? But I can brush that stuff off. Kim and Kourtney have said to me, ‘If we were put under the same negative attention that you are, we couldn’t handle it.’
“If I want to wear a long flowing dress, someone will say I’m pregnant. I believe we’re not given any more than we can handle and most of the time I can handle it. But we all have fat days and if I’m having one of those days, those sorts of things make me feel down.”
When you’re a woman in the entertainment industry, it goes without saying that you can expect a lot of running commentary about the way you look. But if you also happen to have siblings in the industry, comparisons between which one of you is “hotter” than the other are also pretty inevitable.
Hell, there are still arguments over which Olsen twin is more attractive (key word here being ‘twin’) to this day.
Maybe it’s just human nature, but why is it so important that we point out which sister is “less hot”?
As the eldest of two girls, I distinctly remember our parents occasionally making comparisons between the two of us: who had the “better” nose, better hair, who was pale (me) and who was tan (my sister). The worst part was, very often these comments would be made in front of my sister and I, leaving us with little choice but to resent one another for the various physical attributes one of us (apparently) lacked and the other possessed.
It’s a terrible thing to do to two women in any scenario, but it’s even more harmful when it pits two siblings against each other.
The thing is, as far as I can tell, nothing can be gained from the juxtaposition — save for our culture’s obsession with empirical data. So what do you think, dear readers? Have you had similar experiences among your siblings? Do you have a theory as to why we seem to find this exercise so fascinating? I’m all ears*.
*There’s a pun in there, but I’m not touching it.