Kylie Jenner, the youngest of the Kardashian-Jenner Klan, is all set to become the youngest self-made billionaire ever. A label that is making quite a few choke on their venti mocha frappuccinos. Kylie, who runs her own makeup company by the name of Kylie Cosmetics, is currently worth nearly $800 million. Adding to the earnings from her makeup line is the remuneration for her endorsement deals, taking her to a whooping $900 million. That isn’t the problem that’s bugging the Internet however. It’s the fact that Forbes has listed her as the youngest self-made billionaire.
As per Forbes, the 20-year-old makeup mogul will probably surpass $1 billion by the time she’s 21. Which is a milestone that even Mark Zuckerberg — who became a billionaire by 23 — cannot boast of.
The list is topped by Oprah Winfrey, followed by Kylie, Beyonce and Kim Kardashian West, once the most successful of the sisters.
Twitter however isn’t buying Forbes’ self-made epithet for Kylie, who was just 10 when the world’s most successful reality show, Keeping Up With The Kardashians starting airing. By the time time the youngest Jenners had grown up, not only were they rich, their names were big enough to be leveraged. With a start like that, one might argue that Kylie’s rise to global domination in the makeup world (or anything else) is hardly surprising. And Twitter, of course, is doing just that:
Kylie Jenner, against all odds, proving that if you’re born into a very wealthy, famous family with unlimited resources and an A-list team of business & legal experts at your disposal that YOU too can be “self made”
— Artifakts (@artifaktsmusic) July 11, 2018
CALLING KYLIE JENNER “SELF-MADE” IS LIKE CALLING MCDONALD’S “HOMEMADE” STOP THIS MADNESS
— Kristen Carney (@KristenCarney) July 11, 2018
my favorite person today is whoever put kylie jenner on the forbes self-made billionaires list and gave everyone an aneurism
— your own personal jesus (@Kappa_Kappa) July 12, 2018
Although Kylie Jenner is a billionaire and a savvy businesswoman, I’m not sure we can call her self-made. When you’re born on the top rung of the ladder, it’s not difficult to reach the ceiling.
— International House of Brooke _ (@bkerogers) July 11, 2018
calling kylie jenner a ‘self-made billionaire’ is like claiming you made soup from scratch because you opened a can and reheated it.
— gulab jamun (@PedestrianPoet) July 11, 2018
It is not shade to point out that Kylie Jenner isn’t self-made. She grew up in a wealthy, famous family. Her success is commendable but it comes by virtue of her privilege. Words have meanings and it behooves a dictionary to remind us of that. https://t.co/2HzIJbLb8q
— roxane gay (@rgay) July 11, 2018
Self-made means having succeeded in life unaided.
Used in a sentence: Forbes says that Kylie Jenner is a self-made woman. https://t.co/sr8Ncd7s5A https://t.co/ehEL7Cf6KV
— Dictionary.com (@Dictionarycom) July 11, 2018
Calling Kylie Jenner self-made without acknowledging anywhere the incredible headstart she had is what allows people to turn around and look at poor people and ask them why they haven’t become billionaires yet. Her story is not inspiring or motivating for anyone https://t.co/YMnTSzHlKP
— Lola (@lola_adewuya) July 11, 2018
Dear @Forbes — Kylie Jenner is as “self-made” as Kraft Mac n cheese is “homemade”. That much money, access, and media attention — could she ever have failed? Has she ever worked a day behind a desk for that company of hers? Money isn’t everything. Show us better rolemodels.
— Lena Lane (@lanelenah) July 11, 2018
