Kardashian clan vanishes from public eye after hotel heist

Kim Kardashian, pictured with her husband Kanye West, is well-known for displaying her considerable wealth in public. Photo/AP

As we get used to new material possessions, the novelty inevitably wears off and they blend in with everyday life - a new laptop, car, power tool or smartphone is exciting only until the next new shiny toy comes along.

Wealthy celebrities acquire material possessions on a grand scale - private islands, that fourth holiday mansion, designer clothes, a bigger private plane, diamonds ... oh, yes, diamonds are a girl's best friend.

Kim Kardashian is well-known for her love of diamonds. During shooting for her family's "reality'' TV show in Bora Bora a few years ago, her then-boyfriend, Kris Humphries, playfully threw her off their villa's deck into the clear blue water and she surfaced giggling. Then all hell broke loose.

Had she scraped her money-making face on the way down? Had she broken an expensively manicured nail? No, one of her $15,000 diamond stud earrings had fallen out as she hit the water.

Kris looked on in amusement ("If you can't afford to lose it, don't buy it") as Kim was consoled by her family. Thankfully, a few dives later the gem was retrieved and the tears subsided. Kris later married the material miss but it all turned pear-shaped a couple of days after the nuptials.

Kim has amassed a great deal of baubles since then. We know because they've all been posted on Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook, as well as appearing on the show. Every facet of the engagement ring Kanye West gave her was filmed in the best possible light and even I gasped momentarily at its beauty.

Any Joe Bloggs has been able to look up Kim on the internet and find out which expensive hotel she's been booked into while doing her next round of public appearances. At those appearances, she has often been dripping in jewels.

When I heard Kim had been robbed at gunpoint and left bound and gagged in her room at the No Address Hotel in Paris last week, I was horrified. No one deserves that, I thought. She must have been terrified.

Her sisters Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian have both been robbed before, so one would think the clan's security would now be pretty tight.

If the few details known about this latest robbery are to be believed, the gunmen got away with jewellery worth anywhere between US$6 million and US$10 million. That's quite a cache.
I've discovered that the hotel's staff are all hand-picked and thoroughly vetted. Also, there are strong, well-hidden safes available for guests.

I'm not a detective but I do have questions.

Was the jewellery left casually draped across the bed because Kim has so much of it that she's grown careless about its safety? Why was her bodyguard with her sisters down the road and not protecting her? How did the robbers gain such easy access to her room? Does she not at least lock the door when she's alone with the trappings of her wealth?

I don't know what to make of it. Many are trumpeting online, saying Kim "deserved it'' because she can't keep away from social media when it really matters. Many feel genuinely sorry for her because of the fear factor.

However, the vast majority are simply relieved that Kardashian stories are no longer filling their newsfeeds 24/7. Kim and her family have all but disappeared from the public eye.

I hear Kim's absence from social media could cost her up to US$1 million a month in deals. She has apparently ramped up her security to "presidential levels'' and that will cost her a pretty penny.

Some of her celebrity friends have deleted their public Twitter and Snapchat accounts because they now know that not everyone who follows them is a good person.

The two good things to come out of this saga are that one of the stolen pieces of bling has been found, on a footpath outside the hotel, and Kanye wants to buy Kim another diamond ring.

Bless his poor "broke'' soul. He must know she can't ever wear it and feel safe again.