One tragic detail about the Kardashian family is that Robert Kardashian Sr. passed away before his kids’ reality show began. Partly because of that, “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” viewers never got a glimpse of the family’s dynamic with Robert’s third wife, Ellen Pierson. However, let’s just say that’s not the only reason the Kardashians’ stepmother never made an appearance on the show. Hello, legal drama.

Newbies to “The Kardashians” (where have you been?) may have been surprised to hear Khloé and Kim Kardashian allude to a strained relationship with Pierson in the show’s Season 6 finale (more on that in a sec), but longtime “KUWTK” fans probably weren’t. After all, back in 2012, the Kardashian family had some serious legal drama with Robert’s widow, kickstarted by Pierson telling the press that Robert had questioned if Khloé Kardashian was his biological child. Granted, speaking to Star, she had said that her late husband never sought any actual proof. “He would never have considered a DNA test. He loved her very much,” she told the outlet (via Radar).  

Of course, sharing a claim like that with the world wouldn’t endear anyone to their stepchild, so it’s not exactly shocking that Khloé and the rest of the family sued her for coming up with a “despicable and unlawful scheme to hold in secret and convert, and now exploit … private personal and copyright protected [material]” (via E! News). However, the matter was ultimately settled out of court. Amid all that drama, Robert’s widow also sued the family, accusing them of defaming her on their show, and at the time of the settlement, it was said that she was still pursuing her own lawsuit against them. However, details about that were never made public, so it’s unclear if it was ultimately dropped or if that was settled out of court as well.

While we may not know the outcome of Ellen Pierson’s lawsuit against the Kardashians, even if it had proceeded, something tells us there was never any stipulation that her former stepdaughters had to avoid discussing her. Case in point: the aforementioned Season 6 finale of “The Kardashians,” which saw Khloé and Kim Kardashian discuss a dream the latter had where Ellen appeared, and though neither one of them said anything specific about their father’s widow, they did make it clear that they hadn’t missed her. 

ICYMI, in a scene that took place just after Kim had woken up, she told Khloé that she’d dreamed their dad was still alive and living with Pierson. Khloé’s response to hearing her stepmother’s name? “Ew.” Yikes.  At the very least, Kim followed that up by noting, “She looked really great.” Based on her facial expression, Khloé wasn’t exactly down for the compliment — but then again, Kim seemed a tad reluctant to give it in the first place, adding of her looking good, “It was weird.” The sisters continued the subtle digs in a confessional, with Khloé once again coming across as less than thrilled by the idea of her dad being alive and living with Pierson. “Oh, my God,” she scoffed. As for Kim, asked by a producer if she was referring to Ellen DeGeneres, her eyes narrowed slightly before laughing, “No … his wife … that would have been the dream.”

Again, neither of the sisters said anything specific about Pierson other than making it clear they didn’t get along with her. Perhaps that’s why Pierson never responded. Even so, we wouldn’t be surprised if she was annoyed to hear they’d brought her name up on their show.