Kim Kardashian has disclosed a new health diagnosis in an upcoming episode of “The Kardashians”: esophagitis, an inflammation of the esophagus. The reveal carries added weight because her father, Robert Kardashian Sr., died of esophageal cancer in 2003 at age 59.
In a trailer for the show, Kardashian, 45, is shown lying in a hospital bed as an off-camera voice asks, “Didn’t your father … isn’t it what he died of?” Her mother and manager, Kris Kardashian, is visibly emotional in response, saying, “I can’t, it makes me want to cry.”
Despite the emotional parallel drawn in the episode, medical experts note that esophagitis and esophageal cancer are distinct conditions.
What Esophagitis Is
According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, esophagitis is inflammation of the muscular tube that carries food from the throat to the stomach. It is most often caused by acid reflux, certain medications, infections or allergies.
Esophageal cancer, by contrast, develops when malignant cells form in the tissue lining the esophagus, according to the National Cancer Institute. There are two main types: squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma.
Esophagitis itself does not directly cause cancer. However, chronic inflammation can in some cases progress to Barrett’s esophagus, a precancerous condition linked to a higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma, particularly in people with ongoing acid reflux, or GERD.
The NIDDK states that roughly 5% to 15% of people with GERD go on to develop Barrett’s esophagus, though most people with Barrett’s never develop esophageal cancer.
A Second Recent Health Scare
This is not Kardashian’s only recent health disclosure. Earlier in 2025, she revealed on “The Kardashians” that doctors had discovered a small, unruptured brain aneurysm during an MRI scan.
“They’re like, ‘It’s been there for like years. It was here a few years ago,'” Kardashian said of the aneurysm finding.
Fox News Digital reported that it reached out to Kardashian for comment on the esophagitis diagnosis.
