Kim Kardashian: How She Gained Respect By Being With Kanye West

Kim Kardashian gets more respect these days, and she thanks her ex-husband, Kanye West for that. Speaking to Interview for their recent cover story, the Kardashians star recalled when she knew she had "really arrived in high society."

"I mean, when I was with Kanye, and he was introducing me to a lot of people,  I think that definitely got a lot of people to have a different level of respect," she said. She added that she earned that, too. "I've also seen a s--- more recently—going to law school, just doing what I want and becoming my own person and people seeing that and respecting that. There's levels to it."

Elsewhere in the interview, the SKIMS founder has a message to those who still question why she is famous for a "girl with no talent": "Yeah, people used to say that," she recalled, "and I'm like, 'Do I need to be a f---ing circus animal?'"

She continued, "I think it came from people saying, 'What are you famous for?' And I’m like, 'Well, we have a TV show.' But just because we’re not singing and dancing and acting on the show doesn’t mean that the fame didn’t come from that. But then, I would write that as a hashtag, not bad for a girl with no talent, because people used to be like, 'Well, what do you do? What’s your talent?' And I’m like, 'Didn’t know I needed one.' I mean, I can give you a million f---ing talents. I can cook well, use my toes for anything. I could tell you the weirdest f---ing shit on the planet. But I think my talent is marketing and the business behind selling products and knowing what the customer wants and making it feel attainable, but also a bit unattainable at the same time. I wouldn’t say that’s a talent. I think it’s a bit of magic and business savvy. Maybe it is talent, I don’t know."

Kim's latest business venture, as reported by the Wall Street Journal is launching a new private-equity firm called SKKY Partners. Partnering up with Jay Sammons, who ran consumer investing at Carlyle Group Inc., SKKY will make investments in sectors including consumer products, hospitality, luxury, digital commerce and media as well as consumer-media and entertainment businesses.

The inspiration behind starting SKKY was the idea of working closely with entrepreneurs to help them grow companies, Kim said. "The exciting part is to sit down with these founders and figure out what their dream is. I want to support what that is, not change who they are in their DNA, but just support and get them to a different level."

SKKY hasn’t made any investments yet but plans to make its first one before the end of the year. Fundraising has also not yet been made.