Why Kim Kardashian had to return Kris Humphries’ engagement ring even though she paid for most of it

Why Kim Kardashian had to return Kris Humphries’ engagement ring even though she paid for most of it

Kim Kardashian has experienced a lot in her personal life, including three marriages. The reality star first said “I do” to music producer Damon Thomas in 2000, then NBA player Kris Humphries in 2011, followed by Kanye West in 2014. She almost had all the engagement rings to show for it, but she revealed in a recent episode of The Kardashians that Humphries made her return the ring she mostly paid for to sign off on the divorce.

Kim and Khloé Kardashian were among the celebrity guests at the over-the-top Anant-Ambani-Radhika wedding in July 2024. Footage from their time at the event is now airing in the latest season of The Kardashians, where Kim took a walk down memory lane while discussing her future wedding, which she claims will be her last.

“I wonder what my next ring shape will be — on my last and final hoorah,” Kim teased. She reflected on her past engagement rings, first recalling the 14-karat diamond from her four-year marriage to Thomas, then the infamous 18-karat emerald-cut ring from Kris Humphries.

Kim and Humphries’ marriage lasted just 72 days, and she revealed that he wanted the ring back amid their divorce battle. “I didn’t keep that. I was pregnant with North, still married to him, and in order to divorce him, he said I had to give him the ring in my divorce,” she explained.
Khloe chimed in, adding, “That she bought!” Kim confirmed, clarifying that she paid for most of it, with Humphries only contributing a fifth. While Lorraine Schwartz, who designed the ring, said it’s best she parted ways with it, the 44-year-old quipped that she would have loved having the collection.

The ring was reportedly worth $2 million. Humphries ultimately auctioned it off at Christie’s for $749,000, reportedly donating the proceeds to charity. “Kris is very pleased with the final result,” Humphries’ rep told E! News at the time. “The ring is indeed Kris’ property, that he received through his marriage dissolution. He has long since moved on,” they added.

Kim and Humphries’ televised wedding in 2011 was a spectacle, and just 72 days later, she filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. Things got messier when Humphries filed for an annulment, claiming Kim married him for publicity. His request was based on the grounds of fraud, arguing that their marriage was staged for television ratings.
Their legal battle dragged on for nearly two years. Kim announced her pregnancy with North West in December 2012, and after a year and a half of legal disputes, Humphries dropped the fraud claim and agreed to a standard divorce settlement in April 2013. Their divorce was finalized on June 3, 2013, officially closing the chapter on their brief and turbulent marriage.

Eight years later, in 2019, Humphries penned an essay for The Players’ Tribune about the marriage, “It’s never easy to go through the embarrassment of something like that — with your friends, with your family. But when it plays out so publicly, in front of the world, it’s a whole other level. It was brutal,” he wrote. “I didn’t want to be Kris Humphries. It’s the craziest feeling in the world, not wanting to be yourself. And I didn’t even want to say anything to defend myself, because it felt like I couldn’t win. You can’t go up against the tabloids. You can’t go up against that machine.”