Kim Kardashian: We Can't Keep Up!

Katie Couric: Why? What is it about your family?

Kim Kardashian: We work really hard, and we fight like normal sisters fight, and we make up. We're so supportive of each other. We always stick together. Having lots of siblings is like having built-in best friends. I also think that my parents did a really good job of putting their [divorce] behind them. We had family vacations together. It might seem odd to some people, but Father's Day included all of us—Bruce, my dad, my brother, my sisters, cooking breakfast at my mom's house, and all the guys golfing together. We [still] do everything we can to keep my father's presence really heavy in our everyday lives. [Kardashian's father died of cancer in 2003.]

Katie Couric: Is it bizarre having every aspect of your life recorded?

Kim Kardashian: I once commented to Lamar [Odom, Khloeacute;'s husband, who plays for the L.A. Lakers] after I introduced him to a guy I was dating, "Do you think the cameras freaked him out? I hope he gets used to it and knows it's normal." And Lamar looked at me and said, "What you need to really understand is this isn't normal." But as a family, we realize that this life is crazy, but as long as we don't change and we all stick together, nothing can affect us.

Katie Couric: But how can you not change? How can you be authentic?

Kim Kardashian: When we first started [the show], we came together as a family and said, "If we're going to do this reality show, we're going to be 100 percent who we really are." E! has never once put anything out there that we haven't approved of or accepted. If there's something that we're going through, it's going to get out anyway. It'll be on the cover of a tabloid, and it'll be twisted the completely wrong way. So why not tell our story?

Katie Couric: Can you go out on a date, Kim, and say, "This is just me and there are no cameras"?

Kim Kardashian: Oh, absolutely. But it's easier to just be single and not have a relationship. How do you get to know someone on a reality show? Some people think that they can handle it, and then they really can't.

Katie Couric: I can't imagine, if I were a guy, signing up for that. I would be like, "Check, please."

Kim Kardashian: [Laughs.] Exactly! Hence, I'm single right now.

Katie Couric: You're known to be quite a workaholic, and I mean that in a positive way, as it takes one to know one. [Laughs.] How did your parents instill such a strong work ethic in you? Where did you get your entrepreneurial streak?

Kim Kardashian: Being little and watching my dad get up, put on his suit every single day, go to work—seeing how hard he worked. He let us know that when we turned 18, we were going to be cut off, and we had to sign a contract for everything. When I was 16 and it was car time, it was negotiated that I had to pay for my gas, and if I crashed the car, if anything happened, I was liable. Everything was a contract with my dad. And I still have them—I saved them all. Well, when I was 16, I bumped someone and I had to pay for it. So I got a job working at a clothing store, and ever since then I've loved to work.