Kim Kardashian's career-launching sex tape with Ray J "celebrated" its 10-year anniversary this month, and to commemorate the occasion, Page Six has provided a bunch of never-before-heard details about how the tape came to the public eye and changed celebrity culture forever.
One of those details is the surprising involvement of Karrine "Superhead" Steffans, the video vixen turned best-selling author who somehow was right at the center of the saga.

For starters, when the news of the tape first hit the street, the now-infamous reality star tried to say it was Ray J's new flame, Karrine Steffans, who was having sex with him on camera. "She’d seen the story by then, and Kim’s saying, ‘It’s not me, it’s not me.’ Kim was saying that [hip-hop ‘video vixen’] Superhead was actually the person in the video,” says former In Touch Weekly editor Kevin Dickson, who helped launch Kim into tabloid culture.
Then comes the interesting part. Karrine, who dated Ray J on and off for years, says she gave him some crucial advice when it came to deciding whether or not to sign the deal to have the sex tape made public:
“Ray was still trying to figure out whether to sign the deal. I told him I didn’t think it was a good idea, because he’s the man in the situation and also African-American. ‘You’re a Black man, so it’s not going to do for you what it’s going to do for her,’ is what I told him, and I said, ‘If she were a Black female, I’ll tell her not to do it. But she’s not,'" Karrine recalls telling Ray.
"He thought it was going to bring him wealth, and more fame … Ray J was Brandy’s brother and everyone always called him Brandy’s brother and no matter what he did, he couldn’t come out from under that shadow … And he really, really, really, really believed — really in his heart of hearts believed — that this sex tape was going to finally make him white-girl famous."
She continues to explain, "It’s a different kind of famous. White girls can do anything and be famous; a white girl could slip and fall in the middle of Rodeo Drive and all of a sudden she’s a star. Black women can’t do that, and certainly Black men can’t do that, and white men can’t do that.”
Turns out, Karrine was right — Ray never got the kind of residual benefits from the sex tape that Kim did. Fascinating stuff.
For just a taste of how Kim has managed to turn infamy and shame into cold, hard cash, watch BET Breaks, above.