Kylie Jenner Slams Forbes For Slamming Her Billionaire Status

Forbes magazine is making claims that will shake up your makeup: Kylie Jenner isn’t a billionaire, the outlet says. She’s just a 900-millionaire. (Gasp!) And Jenner isn’t very pleased.

If you’re having trouble keeping up with the Kardashians, here’s what’s going on:

In 2018 Forbes put Kylie on its cover saying she was on her way to being the youngest self-made billionaire. And in 2019, the magazine conferred billionaire status on Jenner. Now it’s calling take-backsies. 

In its new story, the outlet claims the Jenner/Kardashian clan has always been after higher spots on the magazine’s annual wealth and celebrity earnings lists, and the family supposedly lied about Kylie’s wealth to do so. Forbes alleges false tax documentation was presented to the magazine in 2016, vastly inflating the value of Kylie Cosmetics. 

During meetings at Kris Jenner’s palatial Hidden Hills, California, estate and the family accountant’s office nearby, Forbes was shown tax returns detailing $307 million in 2016 revenues and personal income of more than $110 million for Kylie that year.

According to the magazine, filings from Coty, the beauty brand which purchased 51% of Kylie Cosmetics in 2019, revealed Kylie’s company was far smaller than previously thought.

Then there were Kylie’s financials. Revenues over a 12-month period preceding the deal: $177 million, according to the Coty presentation—far lower than the published estimates at the time. More problematic, Coty said that sales were up 40% from 2018, meaning the business only generated about $125 million that year, nowhere near the $360 million the Jenners had led Forbes to believe. Kylie’s skin care line, which launched in May 2019, did $100 million in revenues in its first month and a half, Kylie’s reps told us. The filings show the line was actually “on track” to finish the year with just $25 million in sales.

Of the documents presented by the Jenners, the magazine said, “While we can’t prove that those documents were fake (though it’s likely), it’s clear that Kylie’s camp has been lying.”

Forbes is now estimating Kylie’s wealth at just under $900 million, so, needless to say, it wasn’t a great rise and shine for the 22-year-old on Friday. And now she’s firing back, saying she woke up to “inaccurate statements” and “unproven assumptions.”

She also slammed the idea that the tax returns shown to Forbes were forged, saying, “What am I reading?” 

The (former?) billionaire then tried to move on, saying that she’s doing “perfectly fine” …

… adding that there are “100 things more important right now” than focusing on how much money she had. OK!?

In response to the tweets, a Forbes spokesperson told HuffPost, “Today’s extensively reported investigation was triggered by newly filed documents that revealed glaring discrepancies between information privately supplied to journalists and information publicly supplied to shareholders. Our reporters spotted the inaccuracies and spent months uncovering the facts.”

Kylie insisted that the story was “the LAST thing” she’s worried about right now. However, from the online reactions, it seems Twitter believes that last statement is phonier than those supposed 2016 tax documents.