Kim Kardashian reveals she 'changed her name' before reality TV fame

Kim Kardashian has revealed that she altered her name prior to her family becoming one of the most famous families in the world.

Kim, now 45, was just 27 years old when she shot to fame in the first episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, which aired back in 2007.

Just months before the reality show dropped, a sex tape featuring the Kardashian star, with her boyfriend at the time, Ray J, was leaked online.

While Kim sued to prevent its release, she settled for a reported $5 million.

The tape brought a great deal of media attention to the family, but Kim had already made a handful of small appearances in the press already, both as one of Paris Hilton's best friends and Brandy Norwood's stylist.

Kim Kardashian has explained how she once went by a slightly different name (Aeon/GC Images)

Prior to the show airing, Kim has now revealed she actually went by a different name.

“I used to always go by Kimberly, until we signed on to do the reality show. And when I looked at my chyron, Kimberly Kardashian, I said, ‘I think that’s so long for people to say'. And like, 'Let’s just shorten it to Kim',” she told Time.

“And it’s so weird, because all my friends from high school and growing up, and my dad, everyone calls me Kimberly.”

Kim also spoke about how she persuaded her family to take the show, explaining she had wanted to do one for years.

Keeping Up With The Kardashians began in 2007 (Jeff Vespa/WireImage)

“I think I was the one that convinced everyone for sure. I really wanted it. I really wanted to do a reality show since the day MTV’s The Real World came out and I watched it with my best friend,” she explained.

“I looked at her and I told her, ‘That’s what I’m going to do.’ And she said, ‘I’ll be your manager.’ I think we were 11. I said, ‘When we’re 18, we have to make a tape and send it into The Real World.

“Her dad’s in the music-business management world. So she said, ‘Oh, we can get my dad to send it to someone at MTV.’ We made a whole plan."

Kim revealed she encouraged everyone to do the show (Jeff Vespa/WireImage)

Kim also explained that initially, they wanted to start the show to bring publicity to their now-closed Dash store.

In 2006, Kim, Kourtney and Khloe opened the luxury clothes store, which also sold accessories and lingerie.

The sisters announced the stores were closing back in 2018.

“The whole reason we wanted to start our show was to bring attention to our Dash store... at least that’s how I was able to get my sisters to sign on,” said Kim.

“I let them know that, you know, it’ll bring such great promotion to our store. And they were in once they heard that.”