Khloe Kardashian Responds to Backlash About Kim's Birthday Trip, Talks Past COVID-19 Diagnosis

Khloe hopes the backlash doesn't mar Kim's memory of her 40th birthday.

Khloe Kardashian is standing up for her older sister. Last week Kim Kardashian West flew the majority of her family and some close friends to a tropical getaway for her 40th birthday.

The mother of four then posted photos from the exclusive event, noting that those involved quarantined ahead of time and were all tested before they were allowed to take the trip. During Thursday's The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Khloe opens up about the getaway, noting that about 20 to 25 people were in attendance. 

The reality star did not share the secret location of the trip and noted that guests weren't even informed until they were on the plane. 

Though she calls the experience "so special," she also responds to critics of Kim's trip who found the posts insensitive to those suffering right now amid a pandemic. 

"I haven't heard a lot about it, but I did hear that people were upset that we all went out of town. I don't really know the extent of it," Khloe admits. "But this year is a frustrating year. I get it. I think there's so many frustrations going on for everybody. But also it's her 40th. This is something that she wanted to do for us. It was such a nice thing."

While some expressed concerns for the staff who had to serve the group, Khloe says they felt nothing but appreciation from those they encountered in the tropical paradise. 

"Being there with all the precautions that we took and being there and how grateful everyone was for the tourism aspect of it," she says. "So many people said that we were their first party of guests that they've had in months and what it's done for them to be able to pay their bills or to be able to do stuff for their family, just hearing those messages when we were there, we felt really good and we felt so safe. We did it in the safest way I could imagine someone doing it."

Overall Khloe hopes the backlash doesn't mar her sister's memory of the unique experience. 

"It was such a beautiful experience and I want Kim to focus on just how beautiful it was and what she did for everybody," Khloe says. "I don't want that to overshadow all the greatness."

Khloe also opens up about the recent reveal from a sneak peek of Keeping Up With the Kardashians that she suffered from COVID-19 back in March. 

"It was so incredibly scary. It's still scary, but especially then when the whole world was shutting down and we didn't really have any information or the information we had just changed every single day," Khloe says of testing positive for coronavirus in March. "It was just super, super scary."

Unfortunately, Khloe did not have a mild case of the illness. 

"I was really, really sick. I felt really quickly on that I was getting sick with something and I just wore a mask. I remember wearing gloves," she says. "It was speculation all about COVID, but no one really knew. But we were all like, 'There's no way that I could have COVID.' So I was still just really diligent, wearing masks. We got tested, my whole family got tested, and they came back and my results were positive. We were really alarmed but everyone else tested negative, so thank goodness." 

Despite suffering from challenging symptoms, Khloe says the hardest part of the experience was being kept away from her and Tristan Thompson's daughter, True. 

"I just was quarantined in my room for 16 days. We had to wait until I had negative test results for me to leave. And that was the hardest part," she shares. "I don't care how beautiful of a place you have, being taken away from your child for that long, because I couldn't be around my daughter, that was the most heart wrenching thing." 

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