It’s actually been a hot minute since Khloe Kardashian debuted an unrecognizable face.
At first, most of us thought that she might be in a better place, emotionally speaking, now that Tristan is no longer destroying her self-esteem on a regular basis.
But this week’s glimpse of Khloe’s lips has fans concerned.
Some wonder if this is really the look that she wanted. And others are just coming up with mean things to say.
On Thursday, November 9, Khloe Kardashian hosted an exercise class.
She and her friend, Maria Castillo (a professional fitness trainer), shared smiles for the camera. For Maria’s camera, as she’s the one who posted the video to Instagram.
As they stood side-by-side in their athletic wear, however, fans found their eyes veering away from Maria’s bright smile and towards Khloe’s whole … lip situation.
In both of these stills from the video, we can see Khloe Kardashian’s lips taking on an unnatural shape.
It’s not just that they don’t look anything like Khloe’s lips did when she first became famous. Well, that too.
Frankly, they do not resemble what people expect to see from human lips outside of potentially offensive cartoons. We don’t mention this to insult Khloe, merely to accurately describe what we’re seeing. And to explain why Khloe’s fans are expressing their concerns.
Naturally, the video made the rounds on social media. And Khloe’s fans and detractors alike reacted with shock.
“Is [her mouth] really that big in person? [Because] I’d be scared!!” joked one commenter on Reddit.
“It looks swollen and painful,” a second redditor winced.
Others felt less sympathetic towards Khloe’s lip situation. Some felt downright exasperated.
“Just glue a f–king donut to your face already,” another wrote.
And elsewhere on social media, one person observed that her lips looked like a “hemorrhoid pillow” at certain angles. Another quipped “Is that James Charles?” Ouch!
The fact of the matter is that, over the years, Khloe has given fans the impression that she does not like her face.
A lot of this has happened through filters and other visual editing tools.
This is why Khloe’s face has looked so different on The Kardashians (and on Keeping Up With The Kardashians before that ) than she does in the images that she has shared to social media.
Where the rest of us see a sleep paralysis hallucination, Khloe clearly sees a hotter, idealized version of herself.
This is a result of relentless cruelty and body-shaming that she received, particularly when she and her family rose to fame more than 15 years ago.
A sick twist is that this same social media cruelty seems to make it difficult for Khloe to see the difference between concern and trolling.
Let’s be clear: Khloe is a gorgeous woman. And, maybe more controversially, she has every right to inflate her lips as large as she chooses.
But she has to know that people are going to express their concerns. And that others are simply going to make fun of the strange appearance that her swollen lips give off.
It would be wonderful if, one day, Khloe could clearly love herself as much as fans adore her.