Kim Kardashian’s relationship with Super Bowl champion Reggie Bush was her greatest love so far
The Big Picture
- Kim Kardashian’s dating life has been kept quiet following her separation from Kanye West.
- Rumors suggest that Kim Kardashian is now dating NFL player Odell Beckham Jr.
- Kim Kardashian’s first love was NFL player Reggie Bush, showcased in early seasons of “Keeping Up With The Kardashians.”
Kim Kardashian has been linked to many celebrities in her dating life, featured on both of her hit reality series Keeping Up With The Kardashians and The Kardashians. If she wanted to shock the world, as she so often does, dating a regular guy would do it. Kim’s dating life has been kept very quiet in recent years, following a stressful and somewhat chaotic separation from her ex-husband Kanye West. His reaction to her dating Pete Davidson, writing a rap about physically harming the SNL comedian and taking to Instagram to harass the new couple at every opportunity, certainly seems to have contributed to Kim’s newfound reluctance to either date openly or share anything about who she is seeing.Rumors have recently been circulating online, that Kim has been linked to NFL Baltimore Ravens wide receiver, Odell Beckham Jr. Given the Kardashians’ history with utilizing media rumors to promote their new business endeavors, this could just be promotional murmurs now that Kim’s underwear line SKIMS is branching into the sports world, becoming official partners with the NBA and WNBA and featuring NFL players in ad campaigns.
Both Kim and sister Khloé Kardashian have an athletic streak in their dating histories. Now that athletes are coming into the SKIMS fold to promote Kim’s brand, it seems savvy to switch back to her roots dating in the athletic realm. Interestingly, none of her celebrity romantic partners seem to have come close to her first great love, NFL player Reggie Bush. Perhaps this is seemingly so because their relationship was often featured in the early seasons of her reality series, when she was still grinding her way toward success. Seeing Kim as a young ingénue, in love and struggling to prioritize her relationship as her career takes off, showed a more vulnerable side than viewers are typically used to seeing in the now more mature and media-aware Kim. In honor of Super Bowl weekend, and Reggie’s Super Bowl win in 2010, here’s a look back at Kim’s roots as an NFL WAG dating Reggie when he played for the New Orleans Saints.
The Kardashians
- Release Date
- October 14, 2007
- Cast
- Khloe Kardashian , Kim Kardashian , Kourtney Kardashian , Kris Jenner
- Main Genre
- Reality TV
- Seasons
- 3
Kim Kardashian and Reggie Bush’s Relationship Was Early in Her Reality Fame
The tabloid frenzy that followed Kim’s infamous sex tape with musician Ray J being released online was a significant feature of Kim’s early career. She and momager Kris Jenner have never quite shaken the allegations that the tape was released deliberately to keep the newly minted reality TV star in the media, to generate buzz for their new series. However, Kim has always stalwartly maintained that she would never release something like that to the public herself. In the first episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians Kim explains: “That was with my boyfriend of three years that I was very much in love with, and whatever we did in our private time, was our private time. Never once did we think that it would get out.” Kim was with Ray J between 2003 and 2006, having met him while working as an assistant for his sister, musician Brandy. Before she met Reggie in 2007, Kim was also briefly romantically linked to Nick Lachey and Nick Cannon.
With the launch of her new reality series taking off, Kim began to feel the struggle between balancing a career and a personal life. In the second season of Keeping Up, viewers saw her and Reggie attempting to keep the love alive while they managed a long-distance relationship as Reggie was playing in New Orleans and on the road with the NFL. Kim seemed deep in love with her new beau, name-dropping him whenever possible in conversations with her sisters, and acting smitten whenever he was around. When cheating rumors surrounded Kourtney Kardashian and her boyfriend Scott Disick in season two, Kim grilled her sister’s man about acting immature “When being in love is way cooler.” Kim tells the producers in a later talking head interview: “Thank goodness Reggie and I don’t have the need to be psycho like this.” Reggie was also Kim’s safe space when the Kardashian/Jenner clan went on a family vacation to Breckenridge and Kim felt like her family members were all ganging up on her. On a call to Reggie, Kim mentioned her frustration with the family, and he suggested she go home if she was unhappy. Kim eventually resolved to stay on vacation to reconcile with her family, but it was sweet to see her keeping Reggie up to date on the family drama and to know that he had her back, regardless of the situation.
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It was also nice to see a softer side to Kim during her time with Reggie. From helping Hurricane Katrina victims on a visit to New Orleans, to supporting Reggie’s charity billiards event, and planning thoughtful gifts like the calendar she had made for her beau as their first anniversary gift, Kim was very much less self-focused in this period. The later seasons of Keeping Up and the more recent series The Kardashians show Kim as a CEO building her billion-dollar empire, showing her schedule getting busier and busier juggling business, marriage, and children. At one point, Kim’s schedule is so crazy that she and her husband Kanye get into an argument over Kim being too tired to get him a band-aid. Watching the early seasons of Keeping Up, where Kim and the family are constantly working to make sure Kim stays grounded on her rise to fame, viewers still get to see a more vulnerable side to the media mogul in moments like the anniversary calendar shoot. Kim even took the time to plan month by month how the calendar should look in conversation with her sisters. Much like the mysterious origins of the sex tape leak, it is hard to fathom how this intimate gift that Kim had planned to be for Reggie’s eyes only ended up on a newsstand where Rob Kardashian just happened to be to conveniently let Kim know on camera that the calendar had somehow leaked. This seems like a moment where the producers, and perhaps a behind-the-scenes momager, were working overtime once again to keep Kim’s name in the slightly scandalous column.
Kim’s First Love With Reggie Became A Story Of “Will They/Won’t They”
The constant media attention that came along with Kim’s rising career began to wear on the couple. By the middle of season three of Keeping Up, it was clear that the long-distance aspect of their relationship had become a strain as well. Kim’s burgeoning schedule made it even more difficult to make the distance work: “We used to see each other a lot more, but because of my schedule, it’s gotten a little tough to see each other and spend that quality time. But, I guess that’s the price you have to pay.” Later discussing the sudden upward trajectory of her career, Kim makes clear that her work schedule is slowly becoming the main focus in her life: “…my career is just on the up and up, and I’ve got this momentum going. So no matter what it is in my life, Reggie, you know, my friends… everyone’s just gonna have to understand that right now I am on this train that’s not gonna stop. I need to be dedicated and focused on my career right now.” The cracks started to show in the relationship when Reggie asked for Kim to come to support him at his opening game of the season, and Kim initially told him she can’t come because she has an event appearance scheduled. Even though Kris eventually convinced Kim to break her contract to support Reggie, the shift in Kim’s priorities was evident as her anxiety over whether she had made a “bad business decision” continued to haunt her on the trip to New Orleans.
After Reggie’s opening game, Kim claims that she knows she needs to make Reggie the number one priority in her life because “he makes me happy.” It’s a sweet sentiment. However, Kim’s “get your f—ing ass up and work” ethos didn’t just suddenly appear in 2022. Her workaholic habits continued to intrude in her and Reggie’s relationship, and by 2009 the couple had decided to amicably part ways in order to focus on their respective careers. Their bond was still strong, however, as the couple got back together again for a short period in 2010, before ultimately calling it quits. After Kardashian’s unfortunate marriage to Kris Humphries came to its disastrous conclusion in 2012, US Weekly reported claims that Reggie and Kim had started “talking” again, amid rumors the football player was reportedly “comforting” her during the relationship fallout. However, viewers will remember how quickly Kim moved into a relationship with Kanye after the relationship with Humphries ended, and it would seem that she had started “talking” to him as well during this time.
Where Do Kim and Reggie Stand Now?
Now that Kim is single again, is there hope for a romantic rekindling? Well, that seems unlikely at the moment, since Reggie married dancer Lilit Avagyan in 2014. The couple is still together, happily raising their three children. It’s an interesting coincidence that Reggie’s bride is also of Armenian descent, like Kim. In fact, when Jennifer Lawrence was guest host on The Jimmy Kimmel Live show in 2017 and Kim was a guest, she quipped:“My first question, do you think it’s a coincidence that Reggie Bush’s wife looks just like you? I don’t.” Kim laughs along with the joke and says almost under her breath “Ohhh, I thought this was gonna be fun.” In 2018, in speaking with US Weekly Reggie told the magazine that he was no longer in touch with Kim. However, he had nothing but kind words to say about her. He gushed: “She’s doing a great job creating a brand for herself, her and her family. I’m happy for -em. She’s very smart.” If Kim was lucky-in-love with her first NFL beau, maybe future seasons of The Kardashians would take her back to her smitten WAG roots.