I got my ears pierced later than most of my friends—17 years old, to be exact. I was simultaneously excited and terrified, having no idea what to expect pain-wise but looking forward to finally wearing actual earrings (i.e. not clip-ons). Even though the methods used by the mall store I went to in 1996 are now frowned upon (piercing guns have become passé), it didn’t hurt nearly as much as I anticipated, and over the next couple of years, I got three more sets of holes up my lobes. Khloé Kardashian, on the other hand, has been waiting much longer between piercings, and in that time has apparently developed a bit of a phobia.
Little sister Kylie Jenner posted a video to numerous social media platforms documenting Kardashian’s latest piercing appointment, and her anxiety is palpable. “Made @khloekardashian get a second piercing 😂 i’m so proud of her !!!!! she has always been terrified of piercings lol so this was big,” Jenner wrote in the Instagram caption. We see Kardashian, wearing an oversized Balenciaga jersey and visibly freaking out as piercer Harrison McCall attempts to do his job with what appears to be a pretty big audience of friends and family.
Kardashian pulls away several times, quietly cursing and saying, “I don’t know if I can do this,” as Jenner et al. try to encourage her and assure her it won’t hurt. “It’s over in two seconds. Hold my hands,” Jenner says. Kardashian covers her face—showing off her long French manicure—in a combination of fear and embarrassment, her eyes looking for either reassurance or permission to back out.
“I promise you’re gonna be like, ‘Wow, that was nothing,’” McCall says as Kardashian finally lets him near her ear for more than a second. He has to take a deep breath, and as she exhales, eyes closed, he proceeds with the piercing, and the world does not, in fact, end.
Kylie Jenner