REALITY TV STAR Kim Kardashian has jetted home to the United States after she was tied up at gunpoint in Paris and robbed of jewellery worth €9 million.
The multimillionaire mother of two and wife of the American rap superstar Kanye West was holed up at a luxury apartment in New York’s Tribeca neighbourhood today “badly shaken but physically unharmed” by the assault.
In Paris, tourism professionals said such a high-profile incident was disastrous for a city where tourist numbers have declined since jihadist attacks in November killed 130 people.
Meanwhile, the city’s mayor Anne Hidalgo has sought to downplay the robbery, saying it was “a very rare act that happened in a private space”.
Her husband walked off stage during a concert when he learned of the heist, which put renewed focus on security in France, where tourism has taken a hit following a series of high-profile attacks.
He and Kardashian stepped out of the back seat of a car in New York after a convoy bristling with bodyguards pulled up to the apartment block, seen in a video posted on celebrity news website TMZ.
The TV and social media star has yet to speak out about the incident, in which she was, according to French police ”tied up and locked in the bathroom” of a residence in the Madeleine district of Paris, near the city’s main department stores.
The crime occurred at 2:30am local time, yesterday.
Masked men dressed as cops
The robbers made off with a ring worth around €4 million and a case of jewellery with a value of €5 million, a police source said. Two mobile phones were also taken.
Five men were involved, two of whom entered Kardashian’s bedroom in the luxury residence where she has stayed before, police said.
The robbers zip-tied Kardashian’s hands with plastic handcuffs and duct-taped her mouth and ankles, dumping her in the bathtub, TMZ reported.
The robbers allegedly kept saying “ring, ring” and Kardashian told them where to find a new ring given by her husband, TMZ added.
The reality TV star’s spokeswoman said “two armed masked men dressed as police officers” burst into her room. Another member of the gang restrained the building’s security guard during the robbery, police said, adding that the guard was unhurt.
The assailants may have fled on bicycles, investigators say.
The star’s bodyguard, Pascal Duvier, was absent at the time, providing security for Kardashian’s sister Kourtney at a Paris nightclub, an investigation source said.
It is not known whether Kardashian’s two young children were with their mother at the time of the robbery.
Special snowflakes
Kardashian left France on a private jet after being questioned by police about the robbery. She had been in the French capital attending Paris Fashion Week, including catwalk shows by Balenciaga and Givenchy.
Other celebrities leapt to her defense after she was mocked on social media following news of the ordeal.
“People making jokes about @KimKardashian tonight would do well to remember that she’s a mother, a daughter, a wife, a friend. Be nice or shut up,” tweeted comedian James Corden, host of CBS’s The Late Late Show.
Model Chrissy Teigen wrote: “Please do not think that I think celebrities are special snowflakes. I just miss empathy, in general, for everyone.”
One of the most recognisable US celebrities, Kardashian has been a fixture of celebrity news for more than a decade after the success of reality show Keeping Up with the Kardashians.
West has announced he’ll be rescheduling two tour dates in the wake of the robbery.
West will no longer perform this evening in Philadelphia or on Thursday in suburban Detroit “due to family concerns,” promoter Live Nation said in a statement.
Reporting by - © AFP 2016, edited by Daragh Brophy
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