Whether you’re superstitious or not, you’re bound to have heard of – and maybe even feared – the Kardashian-Jenner curse. Steeped in Hollywood lore, it warns that any man who gets romantically involved with one of the family’s formidable ladies is damned to struggle in the aftermath. Think Lamar Odom, Scott Disick and Kanye West– just three of the men who have fallen from public favour since splitting from a Kardashian lady.
Now, we’re not ones to woman-blame; after all, all these men and more have always had free will and are solely responsible for their choices. Still, there’s no denying that few fare favourably after involving themselves in the Kardashian machine…and no one knows that better right now than Timothée Chalamet’s worried friends and family. After all, the actor has already copped some considerable flak for his apparently changed behaviour since getting involved with Kylie Jenner last year – isolating himself from his former crowd and seemingly showing an increased interest in material wealth and status, which sits in contrast to his more down-to-earth upbringing.
Now, we’re told, his inner circle are banding together to steer him away from the Kardashian circus, and are prepared to intervene by any means necessary to get the old Timothée back. Kris Jenner, be warned.
“Timothée’s family and friends are caught between a rock and a hard place,” says an insider close to the 28 year old, who was first rumoured to be seeing Kylie, 26, in April, before they went official in September at Beyoncé’s Renaissance concert.
“They don’t want to be seen to be smothering him or trying to micromanage his romantic choices as he’s almost 30, and has proven for many years now that he’s quite capable of managing his own affairs – certainly from a business point of view. But as much as they want to hold back and stay out of it, they’re finding it near impossible not to speak up. He’s suddenly consumed by things like designer labels, flashy cars, flying on private jets and having a big group of ‘yes people’ around him all the time. Meanwhile, when he spent time with his family over the holidays, he was so distracted – texting and FaceTiming Kylie nonstop and barely interacting with anyone else there. On the rare times he did join in, he only seemed interested in talking about himself. It was almost like he was a total stranger.”
With Kris Jenner as matriarch, it’s no secret that Kylie was raised to value money, labels and excess as the cornerstones of success – but Timothée had a slightly different start to life. Born in New York to an American-born, Yale-educated mum, Pauline, who works in real estate, and a French dad Marc, who is an editor and writer, he was raised among intellectuals and artists in the city’s infamous Manhattan Plaza (a building reserved for people in the creative arts). As such, he was reared on the value of honing one’s craft and creating art for art’s sake – rather than for money. So, it’s little surprise if the Kardashians’ incredibly lavish lifestyle is somewhat jarring to the Chalamets.
Indeed, Timothée’s older sister Pauline, who’s also an actor, hit the headlines last year after making an apparent, thinly-veiled dig at her brother’s new girlfriend.
Taking to social media, she wrote, “If your job requires a college degree, you should be able to write off your student loan payments as a business expense the way CEOs write off their private jets and yachts for their jobs which require neither” – supposedly slamming Kylie, who reportedly spent $70m on her own private jet.
But according to our source, Kylie’s flashy lifestyle is only part of the issue for Timothée’s worried crowd. His recent antisocial behaviour – seemingly only having eyes for Kylie in public and snubbing his friends and family in the process – is sparking serious concern, especially as he’s apparently got half of Hollywood also scratching their heads. As heat previously told you, the young couple were on everyone’s lips at the 81st Golden Globes earlier this month, where they spent the whole night gazing lovingly at each other and locking lips for the cameras.
This would have been harmless enough, had it not been for an alleged run in with Timothée’s old friend, and former co-star, Selena Gomez, who apparently approached the pair to ask him for a picture, only to be told no by Kylie. The rumour mill went into overdrive after Selena was seen whispering to Taylor Swift and mutual friend Keleigh Sperry about the snub, prompting shocked and outraged faces from all three ladies.
Sources have since told us that Kylie was simply trying to keep things relatively under wraps, as she’s already getting it in the neck from her ex-partner and baby daddy Travis Scott, with whom she shares two children – daughter Stormi, five, and one-year-old son Aire. With Travis already slamming Kylieand accusing her of trying to “get to him” with her PDAs with Timothée, our insider tells us that the youngest Kardashian-Jenner didn’t want to set any more rumours swirling at the glitzy do.
Still, the fact that Kylie seems to have the power to sanction who her boyfriend interacts with at industry events is what is now causing such concern. We’re told that Timothée’s friends feel they’re losing him to the Kardashian-Jenner machine, while he’s damaging his own identity in the process. And if he
keeps following her down this unexpected path, they’ll have no choice but to stage an all-out intervention.
“Timothée is totally following Kylie’s rules, which is to keep a total lid on their romance to everyone in his life,” we’re told. “Meanwhile, his family and friends’ patience has been utterly exhausted, and so that’s why an intervention is now on the agenda. They plan to sit him down, outline how he has his whole life ahead of him, and point out how the men who date the Kardashians haven’t fared well. With his career at its peak right now, does he really want to fall into that trap? Only time will tell if Timothée actually listens, but the Chalamets are going to give this their best shot.”
Anyone else think this has all the makings of a great reality TV show? Consider this our petition to get Keeping up with the Chalamets on screen stat.