Kim Kardashian Explains Controversial Work Comments About Women in Business

The 41-year-old reality star and businesswoman says her comments were taken out of context.

Kim Kardashian is setting the record straight after making headlines earlier this month for some comments she made in a Variety profile centered around her family's upcoming Hulu series, The Kardashians

In a video portion of the interview, which has circulated around the internet and led to multiple memes, Kim says, "I have the best advice for women in business, get your a** up and work. It seems like nobody wants to work these days. You have to surround yourself with people that want to work." 

Many took offense to the comments, citing Kim's privileged upbringing as the foundation for her many businesses and billionaire status. 

In a new ABC News exclusive interview with Robin Roberts that will air in full on April 6, Kim explained her real thoughts behind her comments, which she said were taken out of context. 

"That statement that I said was without questions and conversation around it, and it became a soundbite really with no context," she said. "That soundbite I came off of the notion and the question right before which was, 'After 20 years of being in the business, you're famous for being famous.'" 

She noted that her "whole tone and attitude changed" when the previous comment was added to a question about her giving advice to women in business. 

"The advice that I would give is just having a social media presence and being on a reality show does not mean overnight success and you have to really work hard to get there," Kim clarified, adding, "even if it might seem like it's easy and that you can build a really successful business off of social media -- and you can, if you put in a lot of hard work." 

Kim wanted to impress that her comments were not general, but rather directed at other women specifically looking to her reality star career and social media presence as a guidebook to success. 

"It wasn't a blanket statement towards women or to feel like I don't respect the work or think that they don't work hard, I know that they do," she said. "It was taken out of context, but I'm really sorry if it was received that way." 

However, Variety's chief correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister is refuting Kim's claim that the remark was taken out of context. 

"It’s not what she claims. I just reviewed the raw footage. The question was very direct: 'What would be your advice for women in business?' The question about being famous for being famous came after that question, actually," Wagmeister wrote in response to a tweet about Kim's clarification. 

Kim and her famous family are getting ready for the April 14 premiere of their new reality show, and a new teaser  for the Hulu series premiered during Sunday night's Oscars. 

In the clip, Kim discusses her ongoing divorce with Kanye West, saying, "It's really hard with Kanye." 

For more from the famous family, watch the clip below.

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