Robert Kardashian - Personal Life

Personal Life

Robert Kardashian was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Armenian-American parents Helen (née Arakelian) and Arthur Kardashian. His great-grandparents, Sam and Harom Kardaschoff, were ethnic Armenian Molokan "Jumpers" from Karakale, Kars, Russian Empire (now Turkey). They migrated to the United States in 1913, just before the Armenian Genocide. Their son Tatos anglicized his name to Tom, started a business in rubbish collection in Los Angeles and married another Karakale Jumper immigrant, Hamas Shakarian.

Kardashian earned a law degree from the University of San Diego School of Law and practiced for about a decade; after that, he went into business. When he presented the O.J. Simpson case in 1995, it had been over 20 years since Kardashian had last practiced law.

With his former wife, Kris Jenner, he had four children: Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and Rob, all of whom have achieved fame after his death, mainly through the E! cable network reality television show, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and related programs.

After Kardashian's divorce from his first wife, Kris, was finalized, Robert asked Denice Shakarian Halicki (owner of the Gone in 60 Seconds Movie Franchise) to marry him in Vail, Colorado on their Thanksgiving Vacation in 1990, amongst his children and close friends, Denice said "yes" and they were engaged. They lived together for seven years.

He married Jan Ashley in 1998. That marriage did not last, and he later married his fourth wife, Ellen, two months before he died.