The oldest of several daughters of Kris Jenner and the late attorney Robert Kardashian (a mainstay in the O.J. Simpson trial), Kourtney Kardashian gained instant celebrity alongside her mother, siblings, and then-stepfather, Bruce Jenner, on the popular E! network reality program Keeping Up With the Kardashians. The series, which debuted in 2007, honed in on the entire family, but placed a particularly strong emphasis on Kim Kardashian (Kourtney's sister) and her attempts to maintain her public image in the constant eye of the media.
Raised in Los Angeles, Kourtney attended Marymount High, then attended Southern Methodist University and the University of Arizona, where she majored in theater and minored in Spanish. Kourtney took her first entrée into reality television as a participant in the series Filthy Rich: Cattle Drive, which depicted her living in Colorado with other sons and daughters of celebrities. The program Keeping Up with the Kardashians depicted Kourtney working alongside mother Kris at the children's clothing boutique Smooch in Los Angeles. She has since been featured in several spin-off series, including Kourtney and Kim Take New York and Kourtney and Khloe Take the Hamptons, with each series focusing on the opening of one of the Kardashian's new D-A-S-H clothing boutiques.