Kylie Jenner has nothing to hide. Keeping up with the star's candid new social media vibe.
Anyone who has followed the Kardashian-Jenners (me!) over the last two decades knows there is a shift happening in a corner of the internet with Kylie Jenner.
For years, the Kardashian-Jenners have mastered the art of controlled exposure, offering just enough of their lives to draw fans in on social media, fuel headlines and promote their ever-growing businesses. Thanks to Keeping Up With the Kardashians, which aired on E! from 2007 to 2021, and now The Kardashians on Hulu, the family continues to build an empire on both illusion and owning their drama. They've tackled everything from feuds, divorces and yes, even physical fights on camera without losing their fan base.
It's a tricky line to walk: How much of your private life is the public entitled to know? With Kylie, who literally grew up in the spotlight, it's been a delicate balance, and we've seen various iterations. Her pregnancy with daughter Stormi was hidden behind walls of secrecy and YouTube montages. Then there was her "King Kylie" Vine era in 2014, a time marked by colorful hair and real interaction with fans. She's currently in billionaire beauty mommy mogul status, but through them all, she was always the family member who seemed the most real to viewers.
The KarJenner image on social media has typically been about perfect camera angles, aesthetically pleasing pictures and post-production polish so smooth you just had to buy whatever product a sister is selling. In 2015, it was Kylie's Lip Kits that broke the internet. Yet, she also owned up that her plumper pout wasn't all natural when she said she had 'temporary lip fillers' on her reality show that same year.
Lately, Kylie's online presence has become less about aspirational perfection and more about controlled relatability. Enter that TikTok comment.
One reply on TikTok was all it took to usher in a new era for the family's youngest billionaire: "445 cc, moderate profile, half under the muscle!!!!! silicone!!! garth fisher!!! hope this helps lol.'
The message was in response to beauty influencer Rachel Leary's TikTok begging for the details of Kylie's "perfect, natural looking boob job ever." The unfiltered response is notable, as the famous family is particularly tight-lipped about confirming or denying any cosmetic procedures they've had done, let alone in real detail.
Kylie was applauded by some on social media after sharing details of her breast augmentation by people crediting her for helping demystify beauty norms. That's rare for celebrities. She's also waded in these waters before. In 2022, the 27-year-old was cheered for 'normalizing' postpartum bodies. It's something she's also discussed on The Kardashians.
The candid comment online wasn't a one-off. The 27-year-old followed that up days later by posting a hair tutorial for her "biggest" hair hack, revealing to fans how she gets her signature curly blowout, and also sharing a look at her morning routine.
Call it the TikTok comment that cracked the filter, but it opened the door to the glossy illusion that's long surrounded the family's media empire — a narrative shaped by Kris Jenner and meticulously maintained through reinvention and camera-ready control. Now, in the age of Gen Z's demand for 'realness,' Kylie knows: Perfection is out online.
Whether it's a business strategy or something more, one thing is certain: we are entering a new phase of Kardashian. And while Kylie's letting her (fourth) wall down, she's not destroying her family's carefully constructed image either — she's cracking open a window and letting just enough light in.
The Kardashians stars are experts in both their family and personal brands, having been at the forefront of the digital age for the last two decades.
Keeping Up With the Kardashians first aired in 2007. Instagram launched three years later, and the family was brilliant when it came to utilizing social media. They even had celebrity blogs before celebrity blogs were a thing! They've made a career out of being first — first to shape the influencer economy, first to turn personal branding into big business. They may not have been the first to blur the line between reality TV and real life — let's give the Osbournes some credit — but no one can argue they've set the gold standard.
Kim helped make contouring a must for makeup application, Kylie turned lip kits into a billion-dollar beauty brand, and Kendall helped redefine what it means to be a supermodel in the modern era. They launched mobile apps and emoji keyboards. They have major footprints in the beauty, liquor and fashion industries. Love them or roll your eyes, they've remained famous and successful for nearly 20 years for shape-shifting with the culture. Kylie's latest social media rebrand reflects that.
At 393 million followers, Jenner is the fifth most-followed person on Instagram. She's the most-followed person in her famous family on Instagram and TikTok. You don't get that many people wanting to stay up to date on your life without adapting to online trends.
"Kylie has historically been the Kardashian-Jenner sibling who shared the most snippets of her life with her fans, including her iconic 'King Kylie' era when she created videos on Vine in 2014," Jenna Guarneri, author of You Need PR, tells Yahoo Entertainment. "Now, Kylie tapping back into her more authentic side, and amplifying it across her socials, is a strategic move to help her better connect with her Gen Z audience."
Kylie is back to doing vlogs and weighing in on viral trends. Last year, she hooked fans with some King Kylie nostalgia when she stepped out with teal hair — then was hilariously candid about why she did it, simply telling Elle she had a 'free day.' While she said the King Kylie era 'will always be a part of who I am,' she clarified, 'it'll never be what it was when I was younger. I probably would never wear lash extensions and thick eyebrows. There are just certain trends that I've grown out of.'
On Monday, Kylie shared a TikTok of 7-year-old daughter Stormi's reaction to that time in her life.
She's leaning into more unfiltered moments, like one from a recent vacation with sister Kendall on a "drunk beach walk' because polished posts are out, authenticity is in.
"Kylie's operating in a cultural moment where audiences don't just expect polish; they want personality, even contradiction," Elise Riley, CEO and founder of marketing and creative agency My Global Presence, tells Yahoo Entertainment. "A generation ago, perfection was the product. Today, what sells is proximity. Kylie isn't abandoning the family's image strategy; she's modifying it to stay in step with how influence now works. And she's doing so with enough restraint to keep the mystique intact."
But was that really Jenner who posted the details of her breast augmentation? Or did she give the green light to someone on her social media and branding team to hit send? It doesn't matter, because even if it was scripted, it didn't seem like it was.
"Kylie has grown up under public scrutiny, and in that process, she's developed a precise understanding of timing and tone," Riley adds. "What she's offering now… it's permission for the audience to feel like they're seeing past the velvet rope. The allure hasn't changed, but the access point has. People don't need their celebrities to be 'just like them,' but they do want to feel like they're being let in on something that wasn't completely pre-cleared."
Even Jenner's courtside appearances at New York Knicks games during the NBA playoffs with boyfriend Timothée Chalamet felt less like a PR stunt and more like genuine glimpses into her private life. It inspired another free-spirited post in which she reshared a clip from Sex and the City where Kim Cattrall's Samantha Jones tells Sarah Jessica Parker's Carrie Bradshaw she's not getting laid unless the Knicks win.
"This was just another instance of Kylie showing her fans the genuine, fun side of her personality. Authenticity for influencers is a hot topic with Gen Z: They want to see the person behind the brand and feel a sense of human connection," Guarneri, who is also founder and CEO of JMG Public Relations, says.
Kylie's shift toward more authentic content may be strategic, but it reflects and reinforces a broader generational move toward transparency in public figures.
Still, don't anticipate much of a change for her family members.
"While it is unlikely that the rest of the family will be as candid as Kylie has recently been, it is possible that we may see more personal testimonials and behind-the-scenes content from the rest of the family outside of The Kardashians show — especially if Kylie's transparency continues to make for positive fan interactions and headlines," Guarneri says.
Not every single video or post has to be a confession. There's not a whole lot about the Kardashians that is relatable, and fans have never seemed to care. We even love them for it! Kylie seems to be capitalizing on a different kind of parasocial relationship, though, one that rewards vulnerability even in extreme wealth and fame.
"Kylie understands that people aren't expecting her to renounce her privilege. What they're responding to is a shift in tone, a kind of emotional availability that doesn't feel performative," Riley says. "She's not trying to be a peer; she's offering just enough realness to sustain engagement. That's the evolution: not a dismantling of the pedestal, but a softening of the distance."
Maybe this is the new Kardashian currency: not perfection, but proximity. How long this chapter lasts is anyone's guess, but Kylie is the one rewriting the rulebook in real time.
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