Kardashian turns trash into cash

Tyla Peakes: Hands up those who think Kim Kardashian is a trashy tart whose only claims to fame are big boobs and a knack for keeping herself in the news.

I'm with you, for sure. Ever since she burst on the scene with her silicone silhouette, I have regarded her as little more than an irritation that can't be taken seriously.

But I fear the bimbo is going to end up having the last laugh. With the news this week all about Ryan Giggs having it off with his sister-in-law, and New York politician Anthony Weiner sending out pictures of his private parts, I fear that Kardashian's notable achievement may have slipped beneath the radar.

At this stage, don't dare ask "Kim who?" Where have you been for the past few years? But ask what she is famous for and it gets a little more difficult. She's famous for, well, being famous. The daughter of one of OJ Simpson's top lawyers, she has masterfully built up a public image that means she can command hefty sums for making appearances.

She visited South Africa last year, where she gushed about a drink brand and wanting to adopt an orphan. She didn't take anything home except a bundle of cash, but she has continued to dominate the tabloids with stories such as "I would sleep with Britney Spears for $1-million".

Most recently, she was back in the headlines with the news of her engagement to hunky basketball star Kris Humphries.

They make a gorgeously photogenic couple, of course, but the cherry on the top was her $2-million engagement ring. That's R15-million to you and me, a tidy little sum for an airhead.

But her carefully scripted story took a nasty turn when top football star Bret Lockett popped up with the news that he had been having a "text message affair" with Kardashian for five months.

This didn't go down well with our girl, who has grown used to writing her own script.

She still wants publicity around her engagement, but she wants the headlines to be about her great love for Humphries and the fact that they are considering signing a pre-nuptial agreement.

On Friday, newspapers carried photographs of an uncharacteristically glum-looking Kardashian as she flew back from London. She is still furious with Lockett - and her lawyers have threatened him with legal action unless he withdraws the claims of an affair.

But all this is a mere distraction from the real news of the week. For the first time, Kardashian has achieved some recognition from her peers and the celebrity industry. Busty bimbo or not, she walked off with one of the big prizes at the Glamour Awards in London this week - that of Entrepreneur of the Year.

Settle down. While she may not strike one as much of a businesswoman, one has to admit that she's become a one-woman money machine. Well, she is 30 , so guess she knows how to play the fame game as well as anybody in the world.

The whole drama a while back surrounding her leaked sex tape - and its authenticity - could have brought a lesser figure down, but Kardashian took it on the chin. Once it was out there, she sold the distribution rights to an adult film company for $5-million.

And, mostly thanks to her, the family's reality show, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, on E! Entertainment in South Africa, has an average of 4.1 million viewers a week. That's a heap of people, but what's important is that it is the top-rated show among the group most advertisers want to reach - free-spending 18-to 34-year-old females.

And there's much more. She has seven million followers on Twitter and is paid $10000 per tweet by an advertising service to plug certain products. She also has her own brand of perfume and has signed up three million customers for a company that sells shoes and bags for a set monthly fee. Not bad for a bimbo, is it?

Her net worth is estimated to be about $35-million, and that is expected to grow substantially this year once the profits from her new company kick in.

But don't think our award-winning entrepreneur is going all serious on us. Oh, no, she's too much of a tabloid character for that. Before the excitement over her award had worn down, Kardashian announced that she had set a pregnancy deadline for her and her man. She wants to have a baby on the way by the end of 2011.

Her millions of fans around the world will now wait with bated breath to see if she is to become a mom.

And Kardashian will still be pouting and smiling for the cameras. We can continue to shake our heads and raise our eyebrows, but guess who'll still be laughing all the way to the bank?