Watch: Khloé Kardashian Slams “Weird” AI Videos of Herself With Late Dad Robert Kardashian
Kim Kardashian is keeping it real about her health.
In The Kardashians‘ season eight trailer, released on Sept. 17, the reality star shared that she has “something called esophagitis.”
As Kim, 45, was shown laying in a hospital bed, a voice off-camera made a mention of her late father Robert Kardashian, asking, “Isn’t it what he died of?” which Kim confirmed.
Esophagitis is the swelling and irritation of tissues lining the esophagus, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. If left untreated, esophagitis may develop into a condition called Barrett’s esophagus, increasing the risk of esophageal cancer.
Robert—also dad to Kourtney Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian and Rob Kardashian with Kris Jenner—died of esophageal cancer in 2003 at age 59.
“My dad died really quickly,” Khloe shared in an April 2025 episode of her Khloe in Wonder Land podcast. “He had esophageal cancer and I think he died six or seven weeks after diagnosis.”
The Good American founder continued, “I don’t think he could accept himself that it was terminal, but he never used those words with us.”
That’s why Khloe, 42, struggled with guilt “for not spending more time with him” during her teenage years.
“That guilt turned into anger,” she recalled. “I was like, ‘I need someone to blame, so I’m gonna blame my dad, ’cause he didn’t tell me that it was terminal.'”
Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for UCLA
But Khloe became “totally at peace” after speaking about her grief over Robert’s death during the first season of Keeping Up With the Kardashians in 2007. As she put it, “A house got lifted off of me after that conversation.”
“That was the last time that I cried when talking about my dad,” she explained. “I let go of all of this guilt and this anger, and now I could talk about my dad with smiles and happiness and admiration and understanding.”
Khloe and her sisters were also able to channel their grief into charity, opening the UCLA Robert G. Kardashian Center for Esophageal Health—a medical establishment specializing in the research and treatment of esophageal disorders—in 2019.
Taylor Hill/Getty Images
“There’s a few things in life that my dad would be really proud of us for and this is definitely one of them,” Kim said in a 2025 episode of The Kardashians. “We weren’t able to save his life with this new technology and with the access to these doctors, but now we can help save other people’s lives.”
For more stars sharing their health journeys, read on.
Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Jason Mendez/Getty Images
Jason LaVeris/WireImage
Instagram/Suki Waterhouse
Amanda Edwards/Getty Images for SAG-AFTRA Foundation
Paul Zimmerman/Shutterstock
Steph Chambers/NWSL via Getty Images
Chris Haston/WBTV via Getty Images
Photo by David Becker/Getty Images
Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images
Instagram / Christy Carlson Romano
Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images
Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images
Instagram / Justin Bieber
Joe Maher/Getty Images
Trae Patton/NBCU Photo Bank
ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images
Chris Haston/WBTV via Getty Images
Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for Vanity Fair
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App
