Call it sacrilege, but there's only one royal family worth caring about and they sure as hell don't live at Buckingham Palace. I'm talking about the Kardashians, the family that has—for some 10 years now—ruled my heart, and my screens.
For 14 seasons, I have been glued to Keeping Up With The Kardashians, diligently watching this unbelievably extra family's antics and dramas. But, I'm not in it for the goss, the fashion, or even the high relationship drama (of which there is plenty, btw). I love the show because of the palpably intense closeness that runs deep in this family. A level of closeness that I happen to share with my own family.
As someone who comes from a similarly close-knit family, I find myself drawn to the show because it so reminds me of the way my family behaves around each another. Albeit minus the mansions and multi-million-dollar empire. As the Sunday Times' India Knight aptly put it(opens in a new tab), the show is like "a bonkers, dysfunctional Little Women" purely because of the incomparable "level of sibling love and intimacy" that's otherwise nowhere to be seen in most TV shows.
While the Marches and Kardashians are dissimilar in many respects (Jo certainly didn't kick off her career with a sex tape), they do share the same level of familial inseparability and devotion. And, my family—which is significantly less famous than these two dynasties—is entirely the same.
What Keeping Up With The Kardashians has taught me over the years is that the bickering, the arguments and the feeling-pissed-off-but-not-gonna-mention-it are pretty normal when you're growing up in a close-knit family that's bursting with larger-than-life personalities.
Now, Kris Jenner is undoubtedly one shrewd businesswoman who understands that the show's nigh-on universal relatability is one of the reasons behind its success. During a roundtable with the Hollywood Reporter in July, Kris hit the nail on the head(opens in a new tab): "Everybody can relate to somebody in my family." She believes that's down to the sheer size and age-range of the family. But, I think it goes beyond the bounds of just being the "modern-day Brady Bunch with a kick" (as Kim adroitly puts it).
Granted, when it comes to watching reality television, we as viewers enter into it with the knowledge that some of the more emotional aspects are ramped up. But, the closeness shared between sisters Kim, Kourtney, Khloe, Kylie, and Kendall and their matriarch Kris feels authentic.
Call me sentimental, but during the show's 10-year Anniversary Special, I found myself moved to tears not once, but three times by flashbacks of some of the more emotional family moments. That's because I was reminded of my own family, and the ups and downs that we too have gone through together over the past decade.
Just like the Kardashian-Jenner family, my brother and I have a distinctly Kris Jenner-like mother. And while she might not be my official momager, she may as well be. Just like Kris, she's "not a regular mom. She's a "cool mom." She loves Instagram and Snapchat and she's forever telling me to "get swiping, girl." (Mum, please.)
But, just like Kris, she is a font of all wisdom, and gives me stellar advice—sometimes when I least want to hear it. She's mine and my brother's number one fan, and she has our back 100 percent.
My brother Jamie is three years younger than me, but in spirit he's every bit the Kourtney of the family. Whatever the situation—be it my house being burgled, or me crying my eyes out because I dropped an entire shepherd's pie on the kitchen floor—he tells me I need to chill the f*ck out and stop acting like a freak. And, he's usually right. He gives me the cold, hard reality check that I—a bonafide drama queen of Kardashian proportions—often need.
Now that I'm living far away from my family, watching KUWTK feels like taking a trip down memory lane, when my brother and I were still living at home and the #teenagedramz was in abundance. For me, the most comforting thing about the show, is that even a decade on from its beginnings, the sisterly relationships are pretty unchanged.
Watching the show tells me that even though I'm far away from my mum, dad, brother, and cousins, that closeness will remain the same for years to come.
