How Kim Kardashian and her family used her short-lived marriage to Kris Humphries to rake in the cash

As the dust settles on the announcement that Kim Kardashian is to divorce her husband of just 72 days, the inevitable questions arise.
But whereas most celebrity splits are dogged by rumours of affairs, the debate raging around Kim's split is of a strangely fiscal nature.
Cyberspace is awash with analysis of the nature of this short-lived union, was it doomed love or a cynical money making ploy?

Still wearing the bling: Kim, with sisters Khloe and Kourtney, had her engagement and wedding rings in place on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night

Kim's decision to file papers against Kris today, just hours before her mother's book, Kris Jenner and All Things Kardashian, goes on sale tomorrow, could certainly be viewed as a calculated move.
And today, as soon as she woke up, Kim promoted the family's new clothes store on Twitter, only later being drawn upon for a statement about the breakdown of her marriage.
In a tweet that many of her fans will find cold and inappropriate, she effused: 'Our store #KardashianKhaos is opening tomorrow at 9am at @TheMirageLV We are so excited!! Kardashian Khaos has arrived!” Kardashian Khaos indeed…'
It's a miscalculation of tone that Kim might live to regret, as fans begin to question the reality behind her family's money-spinning soap opera.

Was it ever love? This is the moment when fans wept to see Kim find happiness, but now they doubt it

Whatever the truth, there is no doubting the fact that 31-year-old Kim's marriage has been lucrative for the Kardashian family.
And for that matter, the abandoned spouse, Kris Humphries, 26.
The wedding, which would've cost the couple $10 million if they'd had to pay for their freebies, netted a whopping $18 million.