After 13 years on the air, the celebrity clan has announced that Keeping Up With The Kardashians will be coming to an end next year.

We’ve gone from iconic moment to iconic moment. From Kim Kardashian’s more humble start as Paris Hilton’s personal stylist to 2020 when the family are never out of the news, whether you love them or hate them it’s safe to say the KarJenners are the most famous family in the world.

So why has the hit show been cancelled? The series that brought us marriages, breakups, and pregnancies galore was a worldwide phenomenon, carrying on long after other reality shows were cancelled. But it seems the family have outgrown the small screen – Kylie launched her Kylie Cosmetics empire in 2015, Kendall graces every big-name runway, and it seems just about everyone has ventured into a different business over the past few years. 

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To our amazing fans – It is with heavy hearts that we’ve made the difficult decision as a family to say goodbye to Keeping Up with the Kardashians. After what will be 14 years, 20 seasons, hundreds of episodes and numerous spin-off shows, we are beyond grateful to all of you who’ve watched us for all of these years – through the good times, the bad times, the happiness, the tears, and the many relationships and children. We’ll forever cherish the wonderful memories and countless people we’ve met along the way. Thank you to the thousands of individuals and businesses that have been a part of this experience and, most importantly, a very special thank you to Ryan Seacrest for believing in us, E! for being our partner, and our production team at Bunim/Murray, who’ve spent countless hours documenting our lives. Our last season will air early next year in 2021. Without Keeping Up with The Kardashians, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I am so incredibly grateful to everyone who has watched and supported me and my family these past 14 incredible years. This show made us who we are and I will be forever in debt to everyone who played a role in shaping our careers and changing our lives forever. With Love and Gratitude, Kim

A post shared by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Sep 8, 2020 at 2:34pm PDT

Preparing to end the show has clearly been a drawn-out process; oldest sister Kourtney Kardashian has always been vocal about wanting to leave the show, and it’s no surprise. The past 13 years have seen the family give up all privacy in favour of filming a more honest, if sometimes dramatised, tell-all of their most intimate moments. People across the world watched Khloe Kardashian’s cheating scandal play out as she was nearing the end of her pregnancy and Kim’s infamous 72-day marriage that saw her become a laughing stock for years to come. It’s little wonder that the family who the world seems to know everything about is seeking some privacy.

Do we have COVID to blame? While the show continued filming during lockdown, with the stars doing their own setups, we heard a lot less KarJenner news. It’s not too big an assumption to guess that the relative calm of lockdown compared to constantly letting millions into their day-to-day lives, exposed what is likely mental exhaustion for some of the family. Living in a Big Brother-esque state for the past 13 years, while their choice, can’t be healthy in any way and it’s likely we’ll see some (like Kourtney) retreat from the limelight even more.But what of those who embrace the limelight? Keeping Up With The Kardashians had several infamous spin-offs, from the sisters taking on various cities in the US, to Scott Disick’s home show Flip It Like Disick. It’s likely we’ll see similar ventures taken up, but maybe not in the reality-tv vein. Khloe and Kris have both ventured into talk show hosting, something they’re likely to try to revive, while Kendall and Kylie will likely focus on their respective careers in the modelling and beauty worlds. With Kim’s Skims shapewear, KKW Cosmetics, and her law degree, it’s a mystery what the star of the family will do next, but it would be a surprise to see her leave her public life behind. The Kardashians have thrived upon marketing their biggest triumphs and failures, and with their empire ever-growing, it seems the clan have become too big for TV.

Image Credit: New York Times