Kim Kardashian‘s former assistant and longtime friend Stephanie Shepherd (a.k.a Steph Shep) is speaking out about getting fired by the reality star back in 2017. 

In a recent podcast interview on The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast, Shepherd shed light on making headlines six years ago and why she parted ways with Kim. 

“Well, I got fired,” she admitted. “It was such a huge deal at the time. I mean, fired in the nicest sense of the word. I was crying, she was crying, because we are friends. And honestly, that friendship is really important to both of us.”

As for what led to the dismissal, Shepherd believes it had to do with an awareness that she was ready to move on in her career. 

“I think this theme in my life where I’ve kind of just felt like, ‘Oh, it’s time to move on here. I don’t know if I have anything more that I can contribute to this.’ And I think she probably felt that and saw that,” Shepherd said of Kim. “She was like, ‘You need something more. You have this thing, pursue that. I’ll support you, whatever you need.’ And it was the most beautiful uncoupling, never been closer, and she still is someone I go to for personal and professional advice all the time.”

Shepherd, who has appeared on both Keeping Up With the Kardashians and the family’s current Hulu series, The Kardashians, has remained close with both Kim and her older sister, Kourtney Kardashian. She credits her love of organization from watching momager Kris Jenner at work. 

“It’s a machine and it’s meticulous,” she said of the Kardashian-Jenner empire. “I always say it’s like my graduate school because I learned everything that I know about sending an email to an agent or an editor or booking glam or finding a photographer… every single step of everything that you have to know about being an entrepreneur in the entertainment business I learned from working under Kim.” 

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