Kim Kardashian back in NYC after ‘one of her biggest fears’ becomes a reality

Kim Kardashian West was back in the United States on Monday after being held at gunpoint during a robbery overnight in Paris, where she was attending Fashion Week.

The arrival at her New York home was quite the spectacle, security-wise. Driving up with husband Kanye West, mom Kris Jenner and Jenner’s friend Corey Gamble in a caravan of 10 or so vehicles, Kardashian was accompanied by 15 to 20 bodyguards, TMZ reported. The NYPD was also on hand.

After the robbery, which happened around 2:30 a.m. local time Monday in Paris, the reality star was “hysterical” and “just happy to be alive,” a family source told People. She couldn’t wait to leave for the U.S. and did so right after giving a police statement, the source said.

Kim Kardashian robbed at gunpoint; Kanye West cuts off concert »

Kardashian had been so upset immediately after the crime that it took her husband “a few seconds to understand what she was saying to him” over the phone, a source close to West told the magazine.

The rapper cut his headlining set short by an hour after starting a half-hour late Sunday night, stopping a few seconds into the song “Heartless” and announcing to the Queens, N.Y., audience, “I’m sorry, I have a family emergency. I have to stop the show.”

This kind of robbery had been “one of Kim’s biggest fears,” a source told People.

“She’s always known the threats are out there, but for something to happen, it’s almost unimaginable,” the source told the mag. “It’s going to take her a very long time to feel safe again.”

According to E! News, which is part of the same company as E! Entertainment, the network that airs “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” and its spinoffs, a gun was held to Kardashian’s head, her hands and feet were taped and she was locked in a bathroom during the robbery, which a spokeswoman said left the reality star “badly shaken but physically unharmed.”

The two intruders were part of a group of five wearing masks and police jackets who’d handcuffed a night concierge and forced him at gunpoint to allow them into her residence, the Paris prosecutor’s office told the Associated Press. A stylist was there, but Kardashian’s bodyguard was not.

(“This guy is always in my shot!” she’d said Sunday on Instagram, captioning a picture of herself walking with her bodyguard right behind her.)

“She begged for them to let her live and [said] she has babies at home,” a source told E! News. “Then they wrapped her mouth in tape and put her in the bathtub.” After the men left, she was able to get free, the source said.

Kardashian was staying at a private mansion, a local affiliate told CNN International. In addition to a ring and other jewelry estimated to be worth more than $10 million, her purse, two cellphones and 1,000 euros in cash were taken, CNN said.

The apartment at the Hotel de Pourtalès has, according to Page Six, been owned by Kanye West for years and was where the couple stayed right before their lavish 2014 wedding in Florence, Italy.

A source familiar with security at the residence — according to the Hollywood Reporter it’s a historic monument with nine apartments and a private entrance from the underground garage — told NBC4 in New York that the men took the key from the night watchman and went around the building to find the right door.

Prior to the robbery, Kardashian had Snapchatted the bulk of her busy day, highlighting what she and sister Kourtney Kardashian were wearing.

On social media back in the States on Sunday night, people had plenty to say when news of the robbery broke — unsurprisingly, not all of it good. Included in the online schadenfreude were accusations that the robbery had been staged as a publicity stunt to promote “KUWTK.”

Others also implied that people who were foolish enough to travel with jewelry worth that much, or even to have jewelry worth that much, should expect to be targets.

Chrissy Teigen, who with husband John Legend is a friend of Kimye, got on Twitter late Sunday to defend her buddy while attempting to explain, in a self-aware way, that being rich and famous isn’t 100% rainbows and unicorns.

Some things just aren’t funny, Teigen tweeted. “I see you trying, but it isn’t.”

“No one is begging you for sympathy. I know the game plan is to naturally hate celebrities,” Teigen continued in a few more tweets. “It is just a weird little world that I cannot expect anyone to get. I know it seems super awesome and laughable. I know.

“I dunno. It’s hard to explain because everyone thinks money and fame is pure awesome, so it just sounds whiny. I get it, trust me. Go off.”

James Corden — who like Kim has two kids at home — also put in his two cents’ worth Sunday night.

Follow Christie D’Zurilla on Twitter @theCDZ.

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