Kylie Jenner testified on Monday that she expressed concerns to her brother Rob Kardashian about his new girlfriend and soon-to-be reality TV co-star Blac Chyna.
Ms Jenner said she had heard Ms Chyna had a tendency to abuse drugs and alcohol and become violent and had gotten a possible glimpse of it herself.
“I felt it was my duty to express my concerns, but ultimately it was up to him,” Ms Jenner, now 24 and a teenager at the time, said from the witness stand at a Los Angeles trial. She said her brother did not heed her warnings, and continued with the relationship.
Ms Chyna is suing Ms Jenner and three other members of the Kardashian family, alleging they defamed her as violent and forced the cancellation of her reality show, Rob & Chyna, after one short season.
Both Ms Chyna and Ms Jenner had previous relationships with the rapper Tyga, and Ms Chyna had a child with him. Ms Jenner said Tyga told her dark stories of his time with Ms Chyna and showed her a 6-inch knife scar he said she gave him while abusing drugs and alcohol.
Ms Jenner said that while dating Tyga, she had received at least one threatening text message from Ms Chyna.
“From what I remember she sent me a bunch of devil emojis, and said something like ’counting down the days’ until she could beat me or something,” she said. “I didn’t report it, because I assumed they were empty threats.”
Ms Jenner testified that when Rob Kardashian and Ms Chyna began dating in January of 2016, she did not trust that Ms Chyna’s love was genuine.
“I felt like me dating the father of her child had something to do with it, and maybe she was out with my brother for other reasons?”
Still, she said, she was cautiously optimistic after they announced in April 2016 that they were getting engaged, and said in May that they were having a baby together.
“I was happy for my brother at the time,” Ms Jenner said, “but just curious how it would go.”
Rob & Chyna would premiere in September, the couple would have a daughter, Dream, in November, and in December they would have an all-night celebration of their show being approved for a second season that turned into a bitter fight.
That dispute, and how violent it may have become, was at the centre of testimony from both Ms Chyna and from Ms Jenner’s mother Kris Jenner.
Ms Chyna said she was being playful when she wrapped a phone-charging cord around her fiance’s neck and grabbed his gun.
Kris Jenner, who did not witness the fight, testified through tears that she felt that Ms Chyna had tried to “murder” her son.
Kylie, whose home the two had been living in, testified that in the aftermath of the fight she saw some of the damage, and remembers her brother being emotionally traumatised, but could not recall seeing any evidence of physical injury.
She definitely came away believing the violence had been serious, she testified.
“He used the words, ‘She was trying to kill me’,” Kylie Jenner said.
Ms Jenner returns to the witness stand on Tuesday.
