Why did the Kardashians fire their longtime makeup artist Joyce Bonelli?
Emily Beck The Kardashian-Jenners have fired another influential behind-the-scenes person in their entourage. I got such a spooky sense of deja vu with this story, I had to look it up to see why it felt so familiar: in late April 2017, there were a lot of whispers and tabloid shadiness about the Kardashians firing their influential stylist Monica Rose. I remember that it felt like Monica Rose did something very specific to piss off Khloe Kardashian, and then Kim and Kourtney followed Khloe’s lead. We never really found out why Monica Rose had that falling out with the clan. And now, mysteriously, it seems that the family has had a falling out with their longtime makeup artist Joyce Bonelli.
The Kardashians have parted ways with their longtime makeup artist Joyce Bonelli, a source tells Us Weekly exclusively.
“The family doesn’t speak to her anymore,” the insider says. “She hasn’t worked for them for months.”
The decision was made amicably, though. The source assures Us, “They just stopped working with her because they didn’t see it as a right fit anymore.” No one from the Kardashian-Jenner family follows Bonelli on Instagram anymore, but there are no signs of bad blood on the 36-year-old’s account. She sent a birthday wish to Khloé, 34, on Wednesday, June 27.
That was the initial story from Us Weekly – they broke the story, from what I saw. Then People Magazine confirmed it, with a shady new layer:
A source who knows Bonelli and the Kardashians tells PEOPLE that things actually turned sour late last year, when Bonelli allegedly “tried to go around them on a deal so the Kardashians wouldn’t make money off of it. They caught on and Kim stopped following her, but Khloé and Joyce remained amicable” until they severed ties, too.
“Joyce would conveniently fly out of town for big Kardashian parties so people wouldn’t catch on,” the source adds. “And after Kim and her parted ways, she would upload pictures of Kim and call Kim her ‘twin.’ Joyce also claims she came up with the tagline for Kanye’s hit ‘that s— cray,’ which is a lie. The Kardashians were just over her lies and the trying to cheat them out of money was the cherry on top.”
Since rising to fame, the Kardashian-Jenners have added a crew of other makeup artists to their glam squads besides Bonelli, including Mario Dedivanovic (who collaborated with Kim on a KKW Beauty makeup collection), Hrush Achemyan, Ariel Tejada and Patrick Ta.
As of last year, Bonelli’s relationship with the family was so strong, she referred to them as her “sisters” and said they texted one another “every other day,” in a June 2017 interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
What do you think? It feels like the current narrative is being driven by Kardashian-Jenner sources. It would be interesting to hear what Joyce had to say – I mean, if she was claiming to have come up with some of the “catchphrases” used on the show, I would be willing to hear her out. Because the Kardashians LOVE to appropriate and take credit for other people’s work and ideas. Then again, it’s just a dumb catchphrase, so who knows. Also: Kim uses different people on a daily basis, but I’m pretty sure she’s really close to makeup-maven Charlotte Tilbury too, right?
Photos courtesy of Getty.
