I’ve been rewatching The Kardashians on Hulu, and the only time Kourtney genuinely seems happy is that first season when her and Travis had just gotten together and gotten engaged. Then post-wedding she seems miserable again, then happy while pregnant, and now this season she feels off again now that Rocky’s a baby.
What stands out to me is that both of her major conflicts with Kim and Khloe center around how they spend their time and where they put their energy. With Kim, she keeps insisting Kim works too much and needs to step away from work while the kids are young because that’s what really matters. With Khloe this season, she basically says Khloe’s stress comes from overworking too. Kourtney is hyper-fixated on the idea that her sisters are prioritizing the wrong things and living life wrong.
Meanwhile… Travis is gone constantly. He’s touring for huge chunks of this time, and even when he’s not touring, he’s still booking Blink shows everywhere, launching new projects, doing Vegas appearances, nonstop movement. Kourtney even kind of admitted this season that she wishes she could just stay home more, but Travis is very impulsive and always wants to be out doing something.
I honestly think Kourtney imagined a very different lifestyle when they first got together. Their relationship started during COVID when everything was slowed down in general, and Blink hadn’t fully blown back up yet. Since then, Travis has become busier than ever, and now Kourtney spends so much of her life following him around to his events and appearances. And yes, sometimes the kids go too, but that’s still not the same thing as being home consistently and creating the stability Kourtney always talks about valuing. She constantly says she wants a slower, more grounded life centered around home and family, but Travis’s life has only gotten bigger, louder, and busier.
That’s why I think we see so much resentment spilling onto Kim and Khloe instead. They’re “safe” targets because they’re family and she knows their love is unconditional. Meanwhile, I honestly think she’s scared to fully confront Travis about this because deep down she knows he’s probably not going to change.
Before they got together, Travis openly described himself in interviews as a workaholic and basically said music would always come first. He talked for years about how obsessed he is with working and touring. So to be fair, this is who he’s always been. But I think Kourtney genuinely believed their relationship changed that and that she was finally going to come before everything else in someone’s life.
Their relationship in the beginning was extremely intense and all-consuming. They were constantly together, constantly prioritizing each other, constantly talking about family and connection and slowing down. I think she thought she was entering this calmer, deeply connected, family-focused chapter. But after the honeymoon phase ended (and after the wedding, after the baby) it feels like Travis slowly reverted back into the same lifestyle he’s always had: nonstop work, nonstop movement, music first.
And that’s why every conversation Kourtney has now feels circular and impossible. She keeps trying to frame the issue as “people work too much,” “people aren’t present,” “family should come first,” etc. because I don’t think she can fully admit the real source of the resentment: she’s unhappy with the dynamic her marriage turned into. Because once she admits that, she also has to admit this may not actually be the life she thought she was signing up for.