Kim Kardashian is seen lying in a hospital bed in the season eight trailer for The Kardashians, released September 17, discussing a diagnosis that carries the weight of her family's history. Someone off-camera asks, "Isn't it what he died of?"
The 45-year-old has been diagnosed with esophagitis, an inflammation of the esophagus, the tube that carries food from the mouth to the stomach. Her father, Robert Kardashian, died from esophageal cancer in 2003 at age 59. He was the lawyer who defended O.J. Simpson during the 1995 murder trial.
Esophagitis is not cancer. But doctors say untreated cases can sometimes lead to Barrett's esophagus, a condition that raises the risk of developing esophageal cancer. Kim has not shared further details about her current condition.
The diagnosis has reopened old wounds for a family that lost its father more than two decades ago. Robert Kardashian's illness moved fast. His daughter Khloe spoke about it in April 2025 on her podcast, Khloe in Wonder Land.
"My dad died really quickly," Khloe said. "He had esophageal cancer and I think he died six or seven weeks after diagnosis."
Khloe, founder of Good American, also described the guilt she carried after losing her father as a teenager. She said she blamed him at first, feeling he had not prepared the family for how serious his condition was.
"I don't think he could accept himself that it was terminal, but he never used those words with us," Khloe explained. "That guilt turned into anger. 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.'"
She said the anger faded after she spoke openly about her grief during the first season of Keeping Up With the Kardashians in 2007. "A house got lifted off of me after that conversation," she said, explaining that she could finally remember her father with happiness instead of guilt.
The Kardashian siblings have turned their loss into something concrete. In 2019, Kim, Khloe, Kourtney and Rob helped establish the UCLA Robert G. Kardashian Center for Esophageal Health, a facility focused on researching and treating diseases of the esophagus. Kim said the centre was one of the things her father would have been proud of.
"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," she said.
Kim's revelation in the trailer puts a personal face on a condition that rarely gets public attention. Esophagitis can be caused by acid reflux, infection, medication or allergies, and symptoms often include chest pain, difficulty swallowing and heartburn. Left untreated, the inflammation can damage the lining of the esophagus over time, opening the door to Barrett's esophagus. That condition, in turn, carries a higher risk of esophageal cancer, the disease that killed her father in 2003.
Robert Kardashian's death came just weeks after his diagnosis, a timeline his daughter described with blunt precision. The speed of his decline left little room for the family to process what was happening. Khloe's account of those weeks, delivered more than two decades later, still carries the confusion of a teenager watching her father disappear.
The family's decision to fund the UCLA centre came six years ago, a response to a loss they could not undo. The facility bears Robert Kardashian's full name, a permanent marker of the case that took him. Kim's own diagnosis, revealed in the trailer, now connects her directly to the work the centre does.
In the trailer, Kim does not say how her esophagitis was discovered or what treatment she is receiving. She lies in the hospital bed and talks, the camera catching a moment that her family's history makes heavier. The question from off-camera, about whether this is what her father died of, hangs in the air. It is the same question the family has been answering since 2003, and now Kim answers it from a hospital room of her own.
According to Pulse.ng.
