Kim Kardashian on Why She Lets Kanye West Do What He Does, Walking In on Caitlyn

Kim Kardashian celebrated her 38th birthday on Sunday by taking over the ABC schedule, appearing not only on "Dancing with the Stars: Juniors" but also as the featured guest on "The Alec Baldwin Show."

One of the biggest reality stars on the planet, currently enjoying Season 16 of "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," the business mogul has recently begun a more socially conscious mission in her career that saw her help facilitate the release of Alice Johnson, a first-time, non-violent drug offender sentenced to life in prison, after 22 years behind bars.

But even that can't touch the headlines her husband has been gaining in various pro-Trump rants and speeches on "TMZ Live," "Saturday Night Live" and even during a bizarre lunch with President Trump himself.

And before Kanye was grabbing headlines, Caitlyn Jenner found herself in the spotlight after her very public transition. Caitlyn's story was featured prominently on "KUWTK," which Kim admitted she's proud of as it helped normalize that process and how it can impact a family.

Below are some of the more interesting takeaways from Kim Kardashian's hour-long chat on "The Alec Baldwin Show" Sunday night.

"I let him be who he wants to be," Kim told Alec. "I let him have his own views and opinions, even if they're different from mine."

But for Kim, this is the natural response to differing viewpoints, and it's one that comes from her childhood. "I grew up in a household where Bruce is my stepdad having one political view and my real father had a different political view, or my mom and we would just always talk about it and be open about it."

Caitlyn remains a staunch conservative, though she has backed down on her support of President Trump in light of his stance on the LGBTQ+ community. Nevertheless, respecting differing viewpoints was bred into Kim from a young age, and now she finds herself one of the few people in America who seems to be able to do that.

"It was always okay to have different views. I think it's just having an open mind," Kim said. But she probably didn't say it loud enough for the people to hear it. Or because it's a different view than theirs, they refuse to listen.

Many people have criticized Kim, a liberal Democrat, for standing by her husband as he spouts his pro-Trump rhetoric. "For me, I love letting my husband be who he is," she said. "[We] definitely have conversations if I don't understand something in private and talk about that."

Kim took a similar approach to her stepfather's transition, even if there were some bumps along the way. She first discovered Caitlyn's secret when she was 25 years old, years before she came out as transgender.

"My mom was out of town and I walked in on Caitlyn, all dressed up," Kim said. "It was Bruce, but dressed up as a woman in the garage at my mom''s house."

Completely overwhelmed by what she had just seen, and probably scared of the potential repercussions, Kim admits she fled to sister Kourtney's house. "I was hysterically crying. She was like, 'What is it? Did you catch Bruce cheating?' I was like, 'I wish. I don't know what I just saw.'"

Caitlyn did call her about the incident, but also put her in an awkward position. According to Kim, she told her, "One day I'll sit down and I'll explain this all to you, but until then, please don't tell a soul and please don't tell your mother. She'll kill me."

"I thought, Okay, if I tell her, I'm gonna break up their marriage and my two little sisters aren't going to have their dad around, so I better keep my mouth shut," Kim reasoned. "And I didn't say a word."

When pressed on whether Kris knew about Caitlyn, or that she had thoughts about transitioning, or wasn't completely comfortable living as a man, Kim said, "I think they kind of avoided it. She was so in love with him. She didn't think anything would be an issue in their relationship."

She did confess that Caitlyn wasn't as completely direct and open about it as she could have been, and probably Kris wasn't as completely open and receptive as she should have been. "Did she ever dream that he would transition into a woman? I don't think that's something she would have dreamed in a billion years," Kim said.

Another defining moment in Kim's life came just two years ago, when she was tied up and robbed in Paris. "My life has definitely changed a lot in the last two years from that experience, and wanting more privacy," she admitted. "In the last three months I feel like I've come out of my shell back to who I was. For a good year, I almost lost myself."

When asked to explain that, Kim said, "I was always-- never depressed, but wasn't motivated to get up and work like I used to. It, like, shook me."

It also made her think about how the robbers had used social media to stalk her whereabouts for two years before planning their ultimate strike. But it was something she never really processed fully.

"I never thought about anything scary before until then," she said. "I felt like I was living in a bubble and that opened me up to so much." It also changed her focus in life and in her career.

"I'm totally a realist so I know, you post on social media your locations your jewelry, your bags, what you're doing, where you're going, your cars, your stuff," she said. "I would always talk about my stuff. There was a lot of me that measured who I was by how much I had.

"So that changed in me, and that needed to change in me, so I'm grateful for the experience. Even though it was horrific and I wouldn't wish it upon anyone, it really did deeply change me."

One of the more subtle changes is in how she manages her social media presence these days. "I'll only post after the fact," she said. No more knowing where Kim Kardashian is, you only get to know where she was.

One of the more fundamental changes was her burgeoning passion for social justice, and in particular the broken prison system in America. And her first success on this front was the release of Alice Johnson from prison, though she can't take all the credit for that one.

Alec asked her if she thought Alice would still be behind bars were Kanye not a Trump supporter, and Kim had to agree she did. "Alice always says if it wasn't for Kanye wasn't speaking up in support of Trump, then she would still be in jail," Kim admitted. "She says it all the time."

She talked about how she's assembled a group of attorneys now that are looking at cases similar to Alice's story in prisons, and that she reads letters every day. "I really do have to connect," she said of how she chooses the cases to pursue.

"If I knew I had the power to change her life, I was gonna try," Kim said of Alice, which is how she found herself meeting with President Trump on her behalf. In response, Trump commuted her sentence, but that's only one case.

Her situation in Paris really opened her eyes to how tenuous the justice system can be. When she was pressed to identify her robbers, she had to admit she couldn't really see them as they were wearing masks. The best she could identify was maybe by voice and height.

"I knew I was being very careful and very cautious in identifying my situation, but I felt like so many people, they want to get the job done," she said of other crime victims. "They just pick anyone."

Kim says this new direction in her life feels like a calling. She reiterated several times that she has a voice and she wants to use it for good. It's one of the biggest and most recognizable voices on the planet, too. And with the commutation of Alice Johnson's sentence, it's proving to be a voice that can affect change.

She doesn't want to stop with individual cases, either, admitting that he ultimate goal is to have bills and laws rewritten to change how the criminal justice system works in this country, to lessen many of these drug offenses and make sure the punishment truly does fit the crime.

And we're not gonna lie, seeing a more socially-motivated Kim Kardashian ready to take on the world is pretty inspiring. With her financial success, she certainly doesn't have to. But that's another thing the robbery gave her. Money used to be her prime motivation in life, but it isn't anymore. Now, it's family and love ... and maybe a little bit of justice.

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