A few days after the first episode of “The Kardashians” premiered on Hulu, rapper Blac Chyna’s case she filed against her ex-fiancée Rob Kardashian and her family five years ago finally reached a Los Angeles court today.
The former couple – who share a daughter, Dream – were once the subjects of E! Reality series “Rob and Chyna.” When the show was in the middle of filming its second season, the couple split – and the show was put on hold indefinitely. Months later, Chyna filed a major lawsuit against the family, alleging that Rob was physically abusive and that Kim, Khloé, Kris, and Kylie Jenner conspired to cancel “Rob & Chyna.”
As the trial goes on and the famous family finds themselves embroiled in more drama, here’s everything you need to know.
A Brief Timeline of Rob, Chyna and “Rob and Chyna”
Blac Chyna (real name: Angela Renee White) and the youngest child of Kris and Robert Kardashian went public with their relationship in January 2016. Three months later, they announced their engagement, followed by news of her pregnancy in May. In June, “Rob & Chyna” was greenlighted for its first season on E!; The six-episode reality series aired in the fall, with Chyna giving birth to her daughter in November.
From the very beginning, there were rumors of discord between the family of the rapper-model and her fiancé, but they came out publicly in December. She claimed her Instagram was hacked when a screenshot of a note that said she had abandoned Rob and took their child without her knowledge was posted to her account.
With a series of accusations back and forth, Rob accuses Chyna of cheating and Chyna accuses Rob of refusing to seek help for his mental health issues.
By July 2017, their relationship entered even more rocky territory, when Rob posted nude photos of Chyna on his social media, prompting her to seek a restraining order. (This event will be tried separately, in test sets beginning in May.) That month, E! confirmed that Season 2 of “Rob & Chyna” had not been in production for “several months”. A spokesperson told Variety that the show was taken down prior to their revenge porn scandal and romantic fallout.
Why is Blac suing Chyna Kardashian?
In October 2017, Chyna filed a massive lawsuit that named Rob, Kim and Khloe Kardashian and Kris and Kylie Jenner as defendants. The charges against Rob include assault, battery and harassment, while the rest of the family members are charged with defamation.
“Rob Kardashian intends to destroy the mother of his child, Angela White, who left him in 2016,” the lawsuit states. “In revenge, the Kardashian-Jenner family became a media predator, slut-shaming her on social media and killing her television show, which had already begun filming a second season.”
According to suit, E! It was planned to air a second season of “Rob and Chyna”, covering the couple’s journey as co-parents, even though they had separated. Chyna claims that they were well into production when Kardashian intervened to end the show. She alleged that the Kardashian-Jenners made up a story about Chyna physically assaulting Rob and pressured executives at the network to immediately suspend production. (The Kardashians filed a separate assault suit against Chyna, which they dropped in February 2022.)
The suit also mentions as a motive that “Rob and Chyna” may have interfered with another “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” spinoff, “Life of Kylie”. That E! The series went on to premiere in the summer of 2017.
By allegedly colluding against Chyna, the family was “flexing their muscles to destroy Ms. White’s career so that she was no longer able to compete against the Kardashian-Jenner women as an entrepreneur and social media influencer.” Yes,” said the suit.
The lawsuit continued, “Kicking off the second season of ‘Rob & Chyna,’ the defendants ensured that the E! network had space in its schedule for Kylie Jenner to star in her own show, in which she fiercely promoted Kylie Cosmetics.” did, which was once in direct competition with Lashed by Blac Chyna.”
As a result, the suit claims, Chyna was duped out of the millions earned from the show and other revenue streams.
What happened after Chyna filed suit?
In October 2020, a judge rejected a motion filed by Kardashian to dismiss Chyna’s lawsuit.
Chyna’s attorney, Lynn Ciani, told Us Weekly that “Black Chyna will seek millions from Chris in compensatory and punitive damages. [Jenner]kim [Kardashian]khloe [Kardashian]and kylie [Jenner] for defamation, intentional interference with the contract, and intentional interference with potential economic benefit.”
A judge later ordered the production company behind “Rob & Chyna” to hand over unaired footage from the second season.
Who will testify at trial?
Jury selection began on Monday for the trial, which is expected to last for 10 days. Kris Jenner, Kylie Jenner, Kim Kardashian and Khloé Kardashian will all testify live. “Rob & Chyna” creator Ryan Seacrest — who co-produced and executive produced “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” and served as an executive producer on Hulu’s “The Kardashians” — is also expected to testify.
According to her lawyer, Chyna will be the first witness called on the stand and will be present throughout the trial.
