Kim Kardashian is denying that her controversial 40th birthday party led to her and her kids contracting COVID-19.

On Thursday’s episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, it was revealed that upon her return from her mid-pandemic private island birthday party, which took place in late October, Kardashian and all four of her children came down with the virus. However, when a reporter laid out a timeline speculating that Kardashian got the virus “days after” flying 25 friends and family members to Tetiaroa, which is part of Tahiti, in French Polynesia for the mask-free bash, Kardashian denied there was a link.

“False,” she Kardashian tweeted Thursday night. “Nobody caught COVID from the trip.”

Kardashian said Saint West, 5, “was the first to have it in our family and he caught it from school from another student who tested positive first.” She said she came down with symptoms “a few days after he coughed on me while caring for him.”

The episode focused largely on Kardashian having to retake her baby bar exam on Nov. 17, amid her studies to become a lawyer. It was revealed that she and all four of her kids got the virus prior to that, in early November. Production for the show, now in its final season, shut down for 14 days with Kardashian, her kids and the crew quarantined.

She didn’t say why she didn’t share her diagnosis publicly, the open book that she is, but there was a major backlash about her party — as so many people were sick and struggling. That backlash led her to change the caption on the party photos she shared to social media to note that she was “humbly reminded of how privileged my life is.”
Revealing that she had come down with COVID after the trip — even if she didn’t get it when she was there — would have been an even bigger PR nightmare than it already was. The party was included in the same episode, but the backlash wasn’t mentioned.

The editing of the show didn’t help to bury a connection between the two. A video of episode highlights goes right from party footage to a title card saying “Kim & the Kids get COVID-19.”

As for her makeup baby bar, Kardashian was extremely sick leading up to the Nov. 17 test. She said she was supposed to do 12-hour study sessions every day, but she was feeling too “sh*tty.” She said, “I can hardly get out of bed. I’m feeling extremely achy, I have the worst back pain, I’m so tired, I have a 104 fever.” She also had headaches, pain in her chest and extreme exhaustion.

She said she almost blacked out during the test and was proud of herself for just completing it.