Kim Kardashian acknowledges controversial photo shoot with 16-year-old Justin Bieber

Kim Kardashian participated in a photoshoot with Justin Bieber in 2010

Kim Kardashian has acknowledged that a controversial photoshoot involving a 16-year-old Justin Bieber could have led to her being canceled in 2025.

A 2010 shoot for Elle Magazine featured Bieber and a 29-year-old Kardashian playfully interacting and running on a beach, which was highly controversial at the time.

Inspired by the 1967 movie The Graduate, the shoot depicted Kardashian holding hands with Bieber as they looked into each other's eyes in the Bahamas.

15 years later, the SKIMS founder has admitted the entire situation was a mistake and should have led to her being canceled.

Speaking on the Call Her Daddy podcast, Kardashian stated: "I think I'm gonna get canceled if I say it. Like, I don't know who approved this, and I don't know who thought that this was normal, this narrative. But I did a photo shoot with Justin Bieber, and he was 16 years old. And I don't know how old I was."

Kim Kardashian and Justin Bieber were photographed together in 2010

The reality TV star commented: "Nothing strange was obviously happening, and I just think it was an odd concept and wonder why none of us thought it was odd at the time. But now, looking back, I'm like, that might not have been the most appropriate thing."

The 'Baby' singer was dating Selena Gomez at that time, with Kardashian explaining how Bieber's then-girlfriend was present on the set of the controversial shoot.

Kardashian added: "His girlfriend was there, his parents were there. I mean, there was nothing creepy at all. But looking back, I'm like, that's the one thing I feel like, you know, he's a good dear friend of ours and the whole family, but who thought that was a good idea?"

Selena Gomez was on set (Kevin Winter/DCNYRE2010/Getty Images for DCP)

The photoshoot, influenced by the tale of a college graduate who is enticed by an older married woman, was predictably controversial.

"It was a story about, what's that story with the teacher and the student, the graduate. The graduate," Kardashian explained on the podcast. "I just feel like nothing weird was obviously happening, and it was just an odd concept, and why none of us thought that was odd at the time.

"But now we look back, and I'm like 'that would not have been the most appropriate thing.'"

In the years since, Bieber and Kardashian have joined the small group of people who have reportedly been permanently banned from purchasing a Ferrari.