The Kardashians producer reveals cameras were filming during Tristan Thompson paternity scandal

Thompson admitted in January that he fathered a child with fitness instructor Maralee Nichols

(Getty Images)

The Kardashian-Jenner family have returned to reality television with their new Hulu series, The Kardashians, and have begun sharing insight into their lives once more.

The “documentary-style” show, which premiered on Thursday 14 April, began filming in September 2021, almost eight months after the long-running E! series, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, ended. Since then, cameras have been able to capture some of the family’s most memorable moments, including Kourtney Kardashian’s engagement to Travis Barker and Kim Kardashian’s hosting gig on Saturday Night Live.

Khloe Kardashian’s relationship with Tristan Thompson has also been a central focus to The Kardashians. The Good American founder and the NBA star have had an on-again off-again relationship since 2018, after Thompson cheated on Kardashian days before the birth of their now four-year-old daughter, True Thompson.

In the latest episode of The Kardashians, Kardashian revealed that the two had rekindled their romance and were in “a really good place” following multiple couple’s therapy sessions.

However, viewers know that the relationship was short-lived after it was announced in January that Thompson, 30, had fathered a child with fitness instructor Maralee Nichols. Nichols, who gave birth to their son on 2 December last year, filed a paternity lawsuit against Thompson asking for child support and other pregnancy-related fees. Court documents showed that Thompson was dating Kardashian when he admitted to having sex with Nichols on his birthday in March 2021.

While the scandal largely played out on social media, with Thompson issuing a public apology to Kardashian on his Instagram story, fans will now get a behind-the-scenes look at how the famous family reacted when the news broke of Thompson’s infidelity.

The Kardashians executive producer, Danielle King, told US Weekly on 9 May that cameras were rolling when Thompson’s infidelity was discovered. “Well for that particular moment, my crew was there. We were there to film something else early in the morning and the morning that news broke, we legitimately just happened to be there. We have that moment on camera,” she said.

“And I know sometimes it’s tough for the audience to kind of grasp like: ‘Oh, did they go back and did they capture this?’ But there were so many moments that we genuinely captured just because we’re almost always there. There’s almost always a camera going,” King continued.

During last week’s episode of The Kardashians, viewers also witnessed Barker’s sunset proposal to Kourtney. While the moment appeared picturesque on screen, King detailed the “stress” of filming the engagement.

“Filming the engagement was stressful because obviously Kourtney didn’t know it was happening and there was a lot of texting and a lot of conversations - covert conversations - and I was just under fear for my life that if anything got out,” the Emmy-nominated producer said. “It was incredibly stressful but also once the moment actually arrived, it felt amazing because they got engaged, which was amazing and we pulled it off!”

King also praised the Blink-182 drummer for his involvement in the proposal.

“He did everything. He really did. He decided where it was going to be. He picked somewhere close to the ocean because the water calms Kourtney,” she said. “I think there was even a story behind the roses, everything was thought out by Travis.”

Since the show aired, Kardashian has joined fans in live-reacting to The Kardashians episodes on social media. Last week, the reality star jokingly tweeted that the show has “aged” since she ended her relationship with Thompson.

“Well we know how this aged,” she wrote alongside an eye-roll emoji.

Kardashian has previously revealed that the hardest moment to film during the new show was when she learned about Thompson’s paternity lawsuit from her sister Kim. “That was hard,” she told USA Today in April.

“I think that was hard for me too,” Kim added, explaining that she called her sister while filming a workout.

“Déjà vu,” Kardashian joked. “I think the first time it was either Kendall or Kylie that called me. Now it’s good old Kim.”

Kardashian also explained that she’s become “numb” from being hurt so many times, while Kris Jenner added that the paternity scandal caught the whole family off guard. The 66-year-old matriarch said that those moments “are a bit shocking, but you’re not really focused on the filming of it at all until you watch it back.”

It has not yet been announced when Thompson’s cheating scandal will air on The Kardashians. The show airs every Thursday on Hulu in the US and on Disney+ in the UK.