Kim Kardashian Had a Weird Photoshoot With 16-Year-Old Justin Bieber She ‘Tried to Wipe Off The Internet’

The internet has long been a treasure trove of scandals, but some stories manage to resurface with more intensity than others. One such controversy involves Kim Kardashian and Justin Bieber’s 2010 Elle magazine photoshoot, which many now label as unsettling. At the time, Kardashian was 29, and Bieber was a 16-year-old pop sensation at the height of his early fame. Fast forward to today, these images are igniting a fresh wave of criticism.

The infamous photoshoot was inspired by The Graduate , a classic film about an older woman seducing a younger man. In the shoot, Kardashian and Bieber frolic on a sunlit beach, holding hands and running in wet clothes—a starkly intimate portrayal for two individuals with such a prominent age gap. While the photoshoot aimed to be artistic, the overtly suggestive nature caused an uproar. Many fans and critics questioned the appropriateness of portraying a minor in such a context with an adult .

Kardashian, in interviews at the time, added fuel to the fire by commenting on Bieber’s ‘swag’ and joking that she’d date him if he were of legal age. She said, “I thought the shoot was all in fun, we had a good time.” Bieber also said Kardashian was a “very sexy friend but a friend. No need 4 threats. Let’s all be friends and hang out often,” back then. These remarks, meant to be lighthearted, only deepened the controversy, as per People .

Moreover, Kardashian brushed off any allegations and exclaimed, “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion on it…But we were just having a good time. The amazing creative team at Elle magazine obviously thought it was a great shoot and so did everyone. Everyone’s loved it. It was all in fun,” as reported by Daily News .

While the photoshoot was initially controversial , today’s social media users have revisited it with a sharper lens, particularly in light of recent scandals involving grooming and exploitation in Hollywood. On platforms like X (formerly Twitter), users have shared screenshots from the shoot, describing them as ‘creepy’ and accusing Kim of inappropriate behavior.

On a Keeping Up With the Kardashians Reddit thread titled “Creepy photos of Kim Kardashian and underage Justin Bieber that Kim tried to wipe from the internet,” people also had a lot to say. One user wrote, “All of these make me super uncomfortable. Especially after seeing Diddy grill JB about why they don’t hang out anymore.” Another person, after providing context about the shoot, commented, “Apparently Justin had a crush on Kim. No, I’m not saying that made anything okay. Actually, I generally assume that Justin goes out of his way to look as unsexy as possible these days because he was sexualized so much as a child.” Someone else wrote, “Imagine if this was reversed, they would have her head!”

This wasn’t Bieber’s only brush with the Kardashian-Jenner clan . Over the years, Justin has been linked to multiple members of the family, including Kendall Jenner and Kourtney Kardashian . Alluding to the same, one user even mentioned on the aforementioned Reddit thread, “I remember in one episode of KUWTK , Kris, Khloe and Kourtney were teasing Kim with Justin and they even mentioned something about the age gap (couldn’t recall now).”