Kim Kardashian and bodyguard Aaron Cohen / Photo source Ynet News
Reality star and pop culture icon Kim Kardashian is not taking any more chances: days after being robbed at gunpoint while in her Paris hotel room, she has reportedly decided to hire Aaron Cohen, an Israeli security guard who served as a highly trained fighter in the IDF.
Cohen is an Israeli-American who was born in Canada. After moving to Los Angeles with his family with his family at age two, he made Aliyah when he was 17, living in kibbutzim Ma’ayan Tzvi and HaZore’a. A year later, he was drafted into the IDF as a lone soldier, where he served as a Mista’arav (undercover soldier pretending to be Arab) in the elite Duvdevan Unit.
After he finished his army service, Cohen returned to the US and started a security company catering to celebrities. His company has worked with some of the biggest names in showbiz, from singer Katy Perry to actor Brad Pitt and even the Terminator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Kardashian, it was reported, has now joined his client list.
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Kardashian was robbed earlier this month, when a group of masked men entered her hotel room, grabbed her, tied her hands together and put her in the bathtub, before disappearing with jewelry worth more than $10 million.
Kardashian’s husband, singer Kanye West, was the one who reportedly called Cohen, in an effort to tighten the security around his wife. Cohen himself would not confirm or deny the rumor, but he did allude to it. “Because of the nature of my business, I cannot confirm whether someone approached me, but I can say that it’s unthinkable that a star of Kim’s caliber only has one security guard.”
Explaining his statement, Cohen referred to another incident in which her safety was compromised. “When, for example, someone recently tried to attack her, and her security guard neutralized him, there was no one to guard her while he was busy.”
Cohen added that Kim’s massive exposure in print and social media makes her an easy target. “You have to understand that this is a star who has more followers on social media than presidential candidates, ” he said. “People know where she is at almost every moment, what jewelry she has on and also that her security is lacking. You could say she’s ‘asking’ to be robbed. With everything that happened, she’s lucky to be alive.”
In addition to his security company, Cohen has also trained soldiers around the world in fighting terrorism. He has also trained actors in hand-to-hand combat and using weapons, so that their acting would look more realistic onscreen. Among his more high-profile combat clients are Channing Tatum, Ewan McGregor and Keanu Reeves. “I’d like to star in movies myself, ” admitted Cohen. “But I haven’t landed a role yet.”
By Ayala Or-El, Ynet News: Kim Kardashian
