When you're rich and famous, it can't be easy to trust certain people when you don't know their motives.
Chrissy Teigen and John Legend, for instance, don't need Kim Kardashian and Kanye West to stay afloat, so Kim and Kanye never have to worry that Chrissy and John befriended them for the wrong reasons and the couples' bond is stronger than any silly misunderstanding. Last year Kanye didn't mind when John reached out to disagree with him on an issue, while John was secure enough in his own convictions not to have hard feelings when Kanye posted their private text messages for the world to see on Twitter.
Water under the bridge, Kim and Kanye attended a baby shower for Chrissy and John's second child just a couple nights later, no hard feelings.
When it comes to befriending celebrities, people tend to show their stripes fairly early on. Then, either they're never to be heard from again, or they pass all the tests and maybe even become trusted friends.
Understandably, a personal betrayal coming from one of those trusted friends would end up being very hard to stomach.
Just over a week ago, Jordyn Woods was as good as family.
She and Kylie Jenner met the summer before their freshman year of high school began, brought together by mutual friend Jaden Smith, and have been in each other's lives ever since. Jordyn was on 2017's Life of Kylie and they regularly broadcast their ride-or-die devotion to each other. Jordyn had even been living in one of Kylie's houses, the better for them to see each other all the time. Needless to say, Jordyn has also put in a fair share of cuddle time with Kylie's daughter, Stormi Webster, and celebrated the child's 1st birthday along with the rest of Kylie's nearest and dearest at a lavish party this month. She even has a shade of Kylie Cosmetics Lip Kit named after her.
So it's pretty wild that, after being one of Kylie's best friends for the better part of a decade, Jordyn is now on the outside looking in, "completely cut off by Kylie and the family," a source says. Another source says that Jordyn has moved out of Kylie's house and, despite her numerous attempts to apologize to both her and Khloe, "Kylie is done." (Last week the Jordy lip kit was all of a sudden half-off, too.)
To emphasize how drastic that is, consider that the only adults the famously close sisters have at times treated even better than they treat each other are their friends. Over the years, close pals such as Jonathan Cheban, LaLa Anthony, Larsa Pippen and Malika Haqq have become part of the tightly woven Kardashian-Jenner tapestry.
And the family is quick to close ranks when one of them gets hurt—because a strike against one is a strike against all.
"These hoes ain't loyal," Khloe Kardashian's BFF Malika wrote in commenting on a Jordyn-related meme last Tuesday, as captured for posterity by CommentsByCelebs.
Even if Khloe's relationship with Tristan Thompson was already fraying at the seams, Jordyn's thought process took an interesting turn if she thought making out with Tristan on the night of Feb. 17 (in full view of other people, no less) was going to fly with her best friend's family—who, over the years, have treated her like family, too.
Practically overnight, Jordyn went from living the dream to "living her worst nightmare," the first source says. "She's completely distraught and knows she has lost everything. Her life will never be the same."
Not only is Kylie now wondering who her best friend really is, but "Jordyn was a friend that Khloe confided in about her difficulties with Tristan, and then Jordyn did this," the source added. "The family won't be forgiving. They have done everything to help Jordyn be successful on her own. They feel she would be nothing without them. It's such a betrayal for them."
Overall, not that many people whom the Kardashians once considered truly close have been cast out of the inner circle. They're a pretty forgiving bunch, especially when it comes to trumped-up Twitter feuds or squabbles that strangers are more upset about than they are.
In fact, the people they've chosen to forgive have probably caused more confusion than anyone they've cast out of their orbit.
Some seemingly inexplicable ongoing closeness is more easily explained than others. Scott Disick is the father of Kourtney Kardashian's three children, so despite his myriad screw-ups over the years, so long as he's still a good dad he's never going to be fully shunned.
"Scott's like one of my kids," family matriarch Kris Jenner said on The Kyle and Jackie O Show last August. "He is the father of...three of my grandchildren and he has been in our family and with us for nearly 12 years—and, in TV time, 15 seasons. He was in season one, episode one, so Scott has been around since the dawn of time. I love him!"
Khloe, too, despite being one of Scott's fiercest critics early on, before he and Kourtney even had kids, has since become one of his closest friends. Shortly after his and Kourtney's 2015 breakup, there was a time when Kim and Khloe were especially protective of their sister and skeptical of Scott's claims that he wanted to make things right. But they ultimately followed Kourtney's lead, the all-inclusive holidays and vacations continued, and they still see Scott all the time.
"The 3 musketeers," he captioned a Feb. 12 photo of Khloe with his son Reign and daughter Penelope.
Even Lamar Odom, despite a couldn't-be-messier breakup with Khloe, was in until he wasn't, with Khloe postponing their divorce to help him recover from his October 2015 overdose, two years after they first split up.
And it wasn't just Khloe: Odom remained in the family fold, joining them at Kanye's Yeezy show in New York in February 2016, and living nearby in Calabasas. However, his ongoing struggles with drugs, despite Khloe's attempts to help, that led to her eventual realization that her life would be forever on hold if she didn't cut ties.
"There will always be a deep affection there for one another, but both of them have moved on," a source told E! News when their split was finalized in December 2016. "This divorce provides a natural end to that chapter in their life."
When Blac Chyna and Rob Kardashian got together, it wasn't as simple as welcoming a new significant other into the family. Chyna had cast shade at Kylie when the Jenner sister started dating her ex Tyga, and that sort of thing usually doesn't fly. But Kim, having been friends with Chyna first, tried to salvage their friendship and bring Kylie and Chyna together. (She did, however, firmly side with Kylie when she first started dating Tyga, saying on KUWTK that she felt for Chyna but "I had no choice but to take my sister's side. That's my sister.")
All of Kim's efforts seemed to be working until Rob and Chyna's relationship imploded not long after the birth of their daughter, Dream Kardashian. They'll all forever be linked by Dream, but there wasn't enough foundation underneath the drama to keep Chyna and Rob's sisters going along as if nothing had happened.
In the case of more mysterious excisions from their daily lives, a still-unknown turn of events led to Khloe, Kourtney, Kylie and Kendall Jenner ending their working relationship with longtime stylist Monica Rose, who also used to dress Kim—but was not, as Kim emphasized during "Plead the Fifth" on Watch What Happens Live in May 2017, responsible for her big style transformation.
"You know what, I haven't worked with her in maybe four years, so my reason is not connected to this," Kim told Andy Cohen. "But I will say that I read that it was said that she was the reason for my makeover—you know, when I met Kanye. I will say that Kanye got me a new team and we kinda documented it, so I think people think that's the reason—and for me, maybe that is the reason [she stopped working with Rose]. I just needed a new vibe.
"Everyone else," she smiled, "you're going to have to ask them."
With no further explanation, when asked about the apparent parting of ways, a source had told Page Six, "The Kardashians/Jenners are upset because [Rose] was like family to them."
Rose had been working with the family since Keeping Up With the Kardashians premiered in 2007, and Khloe recalled to Harper's Bazaar in 2016, "At my fattest, Monica would always come with racks of clothes and make me feel special. She never told me, 'Oh, they don't have that in your size.' Other people actually said, 'I just can't work with you'—because I was too big. That always hurt my feelings, of course." (Rose, incidentally, also styled that Harper's Bazaar shoot.)
But by the time Kim sat down with Andy Cohen, she and her sisters had all unfollowed Rose on Instagram.
Khloe raised eyebrows a week later when she cryptically tweeted, "What would you do if you found out a friend was stealing from you?" Followed by, "Would you cut off the friendship and let God handle it? Or would you go the legal route?" But that was the end of it and, presumably bound to secrecy, Rose has never said a cross word about her former clients.
There was a similar minor Insta-scandal last year, as well, when it was pointed out that they all had unfollowed makeup artist Joyce Bonelli, another stalwart member of their glam squad.
"I've been with the girls for so long and we've been through so much. It's been over a decade," Bonelli told The Hollywood Reporter in 2017. "We've known each other since the beginning, before they were famous. After they started their show people started really loving them and then hating them and now they're loving them again, there's been so much that's happened. Now each one of them is a phenomenon in their own way.
"We text every other day and we talk about everything. Even if I'm working with a different client we're always talking and FaceTiming—we talk about kids, we talk about the fun, scandalous stuff. They're like my sisters."
In December 2016, Kim visited Bonelli in the hospital after the makeup artist gave birth to twins—a rare appearance for Kim at the time, coming two months after she was robbed in Paris and while she was still lying low and staying off social media. (Bonelli posted pictures of Kim holding the babies.)
But in June 2018, a source told Us Weekly, "The family doesn't speak to her anymore. She hasn't worked for them for months." However, the insider added, "They just stopped working with her because they didn't see it as a right fit anymore."
Still, as with Rose, theories abounded as to why the Kardashians cut ties after so many years.
Meanwhile, bless those who keep an eye on who's following whom on Instagram. With all eyes on Kylie and Jordyn's accounts this week, it was noted that Kim stopped following Jordyn and Tristan on Wednesday. Khloe unfollowed Jordyn as of Thursday.
Khloe characteristically engaged in a little sub-Instagram-Storying, writing Thursday morning, "the worst pain is gettin hurt by a person you explained your pain too," and "Somebody needs to hear this...That betrayal was your blessing!!!" In a third post, she added, "If they ask you about me, tell them: 'She was the only person that loved me with honesty, and I broke her.'"
On Saturday, she wrote, "We have to accept that some people are really f--ked up and it's not our job to heal them. The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss and have found their way out of the depths. These people have an appreciation, a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen."
And on Sunday: "People reveal themselves through their actions" and "No matter how much a snake sheds skin. It's still a snake."
Khloe ultimately chose to forgive Tristan last year when cheating allegations against him popped up just days before she was due to give birth, but now, especially in light of his latest breach of trust, she considers him a co-parent. Period.
Her sisters haven't publicly stated what they think right now about Tristan or Jordyn, but Kim went to bat for her sister Thursday, tweeting after Khloe was criticized for appearing at an event Wednesday night, "Would you prefer she lose the [money bag emoji] too? A single mom has to work too boo! This was a professional commitment planned far in advance and you better believe she is not waiting on anyone to pay her bills or provide for her daughter. PERDIODT [sic] !!!"
Jordyn ventured into the public eye on Thursday night in West Hollywood for the launch of her lash collaboration with Eylure, but she mainly stayed in the background except for when she was called upon to greet the crowd. She could be heard saying "it's been real," but applause drowned out most of her brief statement.
Meanwhile, though Kylie is said to be done with Jordyn right now, not everyone expects her to cut ties forever.
"Jordyn and Kylie are sisters and inseparable best friends," another source tells Us Weekly. "The family doesn't expect them to not be friends anymore. Time will dictate what happens here."
Time may be the best friend Jordyn has in her corner at the moment.