US reality TV star Kim Kardashian West has fled the French capital after being robbed at gunpoint in an exclusive hotel by a gang posing as police officers who stole up to ten million euros worth of jewellery.
Sources close to Kardashian West, who is married to the US rapper Kanye West, said she was left “badly shaken but physically unharmed.”
A police source told AFP that Kardashian West left Paris on Monday morning after being questioned about the robbery.
Unconfirmed French media reports said the masked robbers, who were disguised as police officers, found Kardashian West in the bathroom when they struck. They are said to have tied her up before fleeing with an estimated 10 million euros (£8.6m) in valuables.
The gang had kidnapped and handcuffed a night guard who led them to Kardashian’s room.
Kardashian was staying in the Hotel de Pourtalès, a 19th century neo-Renaissance town mansion in Paris’ cosseted 8th arrondissement.
The “hôtel partiulier” at 7, rue Tronchet has no internet site and is reportedly a kind of uber-select Airbnb for the superrich rather than a traditional hotel.
According to The Fab Day blog, other regulars to its set of nine apartments whose interiors were recently redesigned by Philippe Starck, are Brad Pitt and Mick Jagger.
According to the blog, celebrities regularly complain how hard it is to find a luxurious yet discreet bolt hole in Paris, and that this hotel fits the bill.
“The address is so secret that you will not find any information on internet. They have no website, no flyers, no telephone number and no street sign. The only way to find them and to reserve an apartment is to use the old and classical word to mouth system,” it writes.
Group Allard, the owners who also run the Royal Monceau hotel, are now having to face the world’s media as journalists and curious passers-by had gathered outside its entrance on Monday morning.
“It’s full of stars in there,” said a waiter of a neighbouring cafe. “Kim Kardashian had been the there for the past week. I’ve seen her come and go.”
See the hotel where Kim Kardashian West was robbed at gunpoint Play! 00:35
Meanwhile, Paris police have pledged to employ “all possible means to solve the case and arrest the perpetrators”. The inquiry is being handled by the serious crimes unit, la brigade de répression du banditisme, and the Paris judicial police.
Leonardo di Caprio, Prince, Madonna and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are reportedly among previous occupants of the “hotel”.
At least two of the thieves reportedly escaped on bikes.
Kardashian was in Paris for fashion week with her family and had attended an open-air Givenchy show in the Jardin des Plantes, in the 5th arrondissement before attending a private dinner then returning to the hotel.
The robbers’ haul included a box of jewellery worth five to six million euros and a ring worth around four million euros, a source told AFP.
They are also said to have handcuffed a night guard before entering the TV star’s room.
A Paris police spokesman has confirmed that the robbery took place and said an investigation was underway.
French journalist Sébastien Guyot posted an image of the exterior of the hotel online earlier this morning.
Kardashian West’s sisters, Kourtney and Kendall, are staying at another hotel, the Peninsula.
A source close to Kardashian West said her two children, three-year-old daughter North and 10-month-old son Saint, were notwith Kardashian in the hotel room.
CNN said earlier that Mrs Kardashian West was held up by masked men in her Paris hotel room, prompting her husband to abruptly end a performance in New York, citing a family emergency.
“Kim Kardashian West was held up at gunpoint inside her Paris hotel room this evening by two armed masked men dressed as police officers,” Mrs Kardashian West’s spokeswoman, Ina Treciokas, said in a statement reported by CNN.
“She is badly shaken but physically unharmed,” the statement added.
Kanye West left his set early at the Meadows Festival in New York.
“I’m sorry I have a family emergency, I have to stop the show,” West said in video footage posted on Twitter by fans who were filming the performance in the New York borough of Queens.
West had been on stage for just under an hour when he said he had to leave. He did not specify the nature of the emergency.
Shortly before the robbery is believed to have taken place, at 3am Paris time, Kardashian West posted a series of selfies and a note online which complained about a birthday message to her brother and his pregnant girlfriend being spoiled by a lack of sound.
The note was published on the social network Snapchat at 2.17am Paris time.
It comes after the star was ambushed last week by a serial “celebrity accoster” who attempted to assault her as she was entering a restaurant.
The star was attacked by celebrity prankster Vitalii Sediuk during Paris Fashion Week on Wednesday while entering L’Avenue restaurant.
Video recorded by fashion stylist Ondine Azoulay showed how Kardashian’s bodyguard apprehended Sediuk when he attempted to make contact with her. Kardashian later referenced this on Twitter, tweeting, “My security @PascalDuvier is a G.”
Sediuk previously attacked Brad Pitt during the premiere of Angelina Jolie’s film Maleficent. He attacked model Gigi Hadid on September 22, but she fought back.
Fan reaction to Kanye West’s departure was mixed, with some saying emergencies can happen to anyone, but others complaining they had paid $300 for tickets and didn’t get their money’s worth.
Prankster fails to kiss Kim Kardashian’s bum Play! 00:41
Amid an initial lack of details over his swift exit, many fans at the festival were distraught as they poured out of the venue into the parking lot of the New York Mets’ baseball stadium.
Some had waited since early afternoon to be in the front rows for him, while the merchandise stands had special lines exclusively for West merchandise with waits of one hour.
The new, late-season festival was set up by the promoters of New York’s six-year-old Governors Ball who had snagged West for a June performance well ahead of his tour – but were forced to cancel his set due to weather.
A festival representative took the microphone to declare a 10-minute intermission before quickly returning to say that West had a “family emergency” and had already left the venue.
The festival later issued a statement praising West for a “great show” and said: “Our thoughts are with West and his family.”
Paris has been a special place for the couple, who spent the weekend there before marrying in Florence in May of 2014.
Three days ago, Kardashian posted a close-up photograph of a huge diamond ring on her left hand captioned with three diamond emojis.
And on Sunday morning she shared a photograph of herself flanked by a bodyguard with the caption: “This guy is always in my shot!”
In 2012 she claimed valuables were stolen from her luggage during a British Airways flight from Heathrow.
The American socialite flew home to Los Angeles after spending time in London promoting her latest fragrance and slimming products and visiting West, who was then her boyfriend.
She also attended the Cannes film festival in the south of France before flying to Los Angeles from Nice via Heathrow Terminal 5.
She accused the airline of rifling through her possessions, tweeting: “Very disappointed in British Airways for opening my luggage & taking some special items of mine!
Some things are sentimental & not replaceable.