Kim Kardashian has spoken out about being compared with the Duchess of Cambridge while they were both pregnant with their first children, revealing she was left in tears as she was “brutalised” by the press.

The billionaire reality TV star and businesswoman was expecting daughter North at the same time Kate was pregnant with Prince George in 2013, and the children were born just a month apart.

Speaking in a new podcast interview, Kardashian, 40, said she did not enjoy being pregnant and recalled seeing news articles likening her to a whale and comparing her to the royal, now 39.

“It was really, really crazy,” Kardashian told the We Are Supported By podcast with hosts Kristen Bell and Monica Padman. “They would always compare me to Kate Middleton so it would say, ‘Kate the waif and Kim the whale, the waif versus the whale’.

“It was so nasty. I don’t think that would really fly today, but it killed my self-esteem. I really can’t believe that this was acceptable and that this was okay. But I would sit at home and cry all the time.”

Kardashian said that during her pregnancy she was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia, which led to swelling in her feet and face.

A mother of four, she went on to have son Saint in 2015, and had her youngest two children, daughter Chicago and son Psalm, by surrogate in 2018 and 2019.

During the podcast interview, Kardashian also spoke about her estranged husband and the children’s father Kanye West, and credited him with helping her to care less about what people think of her.

The star filed for divorce from the rapper and fashion designer in February. Papers cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for the split, with the pair sharing joint custody of their four children, but they appear to be on good terms, with Kardashian promoting his upcoming new album Donda on Instagram earlier in August.

“I got to a point – and maybe being in a relationship with Kanye for a decade, someone that absolutely didn’t care about likeability factor or what any perception of him was as long as he was true to himself – that taught me so much in the best way of just being me and living in the moment,” Kardashian said.

She said she realised she did not have to please people all the time, adding: “As long as I’m myself and as long as I’m doing it the way that I want to do, you have one life and you’re living it for you.

“That taught me to just be more confident in myself and truly not care as much of what other people thought.”