Kim Kardashian's divorce won't tarnish her brand ~ DAPALS' ZONE

reality plus fairy tale equals unhappily ever after.

Seventy-two days after their lavish wedding ceremony, which cost an estimated $10 million and was subsequently watched by more than 4 million TV viewers, Kardashian, 31, announced she had filed for divorce.

"After careful consideration, I have decided to end my marriage," she said in a statement. "I hope everyone understands this was not an easy decision. I had hoped this marriage was forever, but sometimes things don't work out as planned."

Humphries, 26, issued a statement to People: "I love my wife and am devastated to learn she filed for divorce."

The announcement didn't come as a surprise to celebrity watchers Monday, and experts agreed the golden Kardashian brand should be safe, though some warned about potential backlash from fans and wedding sponsors feeling duped.

"We definitely saw problems in the relationship," says Rebecca Bienstock, deputy news director of Us Weekly magazine. "Our cover story last week was all about the problems and how Kris wasn't really what Kim was expecting. And the special on the E! channel showed he wasn't really liked by her sisters."

E!, which carries the Kardashian reality shows and paid for the rights to air the two-part wedding special just two weeks ago, issued a statement of support: "All of us at E! are surprised and saddened by this news, and we send our support to Kim and Kris at this difficult time. The Kardashians have always been uniquely open with all aspects of their lives from joyous events to intimate moments to heartbreaking transitions. E! will continue to share the fascinating real lives and larger-than-life existence of this close-knit family."

In other words, the reality show must go on.

Kardashian's family tried to rally support on Twitter. "Our sister is going through a difficult time but we're a close family and are sticking together like always," Kourtney Kardashian wrote.

Be nice, Khloe Kardashian urged the Twitterverse: "Reading some of these comments r so hurtful. I'm grateful 4our fans who understand & r being respectful. Hate is disgusting. Love is everything … "

Meanwhile, experts said Kardashian and Humphries may have been too caught up in the thrill of planning a wedding.

"They weren't together very long before they decided to get married, and the rest of the time they were planning this extremely elaborate wedding, so their focus was on the wedding and not the marriage," says Micki McWade, a New York divorce coach and author of a "collaborative divorce" guide, Getting Up, Getting Over, Getting On. "If they had looked at the marriage, they would have realized they were not compatible. It was pretty obvious (from the reality show)."

But McWade predicts the divorce won't be traumatic. "The marriage did not have enough weight for them to really invest in it. It was obvious they had different value systems."

Still, only 72 days? Shocking, maybe, but remember, Britney Spears was married for just 58 hours. There are plenty of celebrity marriages that were shorter.

"I'm certainly not shocked. … I'm surprised it happened so quickly," says Howard Bragman, longtime Hollywood publicist and vice chairman of Reputation.com. "There were probably questions before the marriage, but all of a sudden you're on this train moving very fast. The excitement, the filming, it all took the place of the pre-marriage discussions people have."

On the upside, he says, "Kim has this knack for turning the bad moments in her life into financial bonanzas."

Big wedding-day payday

While exact figures aren't available, Kardashian and Humphries got a financial windfall from their over-the-top wedding that was televised on E! as a two-part special, Kim's Fairytale Wedding: A Kardashian Event. The Kardashian women have become successful businesswomen, and some say it's possible that signing another lucrative deal was part of the allure to wed.

"I think she genuinely loved him and went into it hoping he'd be The One. But obviously if you're a Kardashian, you're going to have so many opportunities thrown at you for a wedding," says Us Weekly's Bienstock. "The (extravagant) wedding seemed in keeping with her personality."

Whatever happens, her brand is safe, says Ronn Torossian, CEO of 5W Public Relations and author of For Immediate Release.

"It wasn't that she married George Clooney, in the sense that (Kris) was a big brand or a step up for for her," Torossian says. "I don't think this will have a big effect on her brand. I think it's a blip on the radar screen."

Unless she does something completely shocking and out of character, Bienstock says "it seems like (Kardashian) can really do no wrong. People really love her and love her sisters."

Divorce won't hurt her popularity, and it might even be helpful, Bienstock says. "She's going to get a ton of press for this. Everyone is going to want to see who she'll date next, and it will be the same cycle again: Dating, marriage, baby."

Give back the gifts?

Kardashian and Humphries received gifts from wedding guests, and vendors supplied products for the wedding. So now that the marriage is over, what does etiquette dictate?

Northern California wedding planner Sasha Souza says Kardashian and Humprhies should return the gifts.

"You return the gifts, period. Or you offer to make a donation to their charity of choice. … I think anything under a year — especially with a wedding of the magnitude that they had — it looks like a grab. It looks selfish. It's not a good PR thing."

It's particularly bad news for the vendors who donated their services in exchange for publicity. "The vendors that provided their products for free — now, if they do an interview and they say they did Kim Kardashian's wedding, it becomes a joke. You can't even say you did her wedding," Souza says.

But maybe not, says Diann Valentine, who has planned weddings for Usher and Toni Braxton. "She fulfilled her obligation. She had her wedding and it got tons of publicity. The special aired. The split means that people will relive the wedding even more. The vendors are getting a whole lot more than one wedding," she says.

The costs of splitting

Could the divorce be even more expensive than the wedding?

"Kim Kardashian is a business entity that needed protection, and Kris Humphries is a successful NBA player fully capable of his own support," says Manhattan-based divorce lawyer Paul Talbert. "I would not be surprised if the prenuptial agreement provides that neither Kim nor Kris has any obligations to the other upon a divorce — that they would only be dividing any property acquired in joint name."

Jennifer Brandt, a family law attorney in Philadelphia, says it's improbable that Humphries would be "entitled to very much even if they had no prenup, because it was such a short-term marriage. It's not as if they had a long history where one supported the other in his or her career."

But Brandt and Talbert allow that there are, in the latter's words, "interesting issues" not common to most marriages, short or long: namely, the money the bride and groom made by turning their wedding into a public spectacle.

"Given that while they were doing the prenuptial agreement they had to be negotiating rights to their wedding, it's fairly certain that the prenup provides for how those funds and gifts will be treated," Talbert says.

Veteran celebrity divorce and family lawyer Raoul Felder says the divorce could be turned against the couple "if the public comes to the conclusion that they were hoaxed." Or if the media outlets that helped finance the affair come to the same conclusion, Felder adds: "If one of the people who gave them money came to me, I'd say, 'You have a lawsuit.' "

One thing Kardashian and Humphries won't be contending with as their divorce unfolds: TV cameras.

E! says Kourtney and Kim Take New York has wrapped, and the new season of Keeping Up With the Kardashians has not yet started production.

SOURCE: USA TODAY!