C.J.: Reality TV on trial and on TV? If Kris gets his way

Even Kim Kardashian must admire the swagger Kris Humphries' legal team has displayed in seeking to have his annulment proceedings televised.

The NBA player, who responded to his wife's surprise Halloween divorce filing by asking for an annulment on the grounds of fraud, apparently wants to use this case to put reality TV on trial. Just another sticky image problem over which Kardashian can pray during Bible study.

According to Humphries' Minneapolis-based attorney Lee Hutton III, the decision to televise proceedings won't be based on what Kardashian wants.

"It's a request you make before the judge," Hutton told me Wednesday. "It's his decision. Quite frankly, I would think that Kim Kardashian would be interested in having this on TV simply because her life is already on TV."

For reasons unclear to me, Kardashian was making new noises, in the last episode of the recently completed season of her E! TV reality show (theoretically taped before the Halloween divorce filing), about needing to get away from the TV cameras for a while to determine the best way to handle a marriage in which neither party was happy. Of course, Humphries was mainly unhappy because she was being uncompromising, unaccommodating, distant and, in his view, "crazy."

Kardashian admitted in a reality camera confessional that she intentionally avoided spending time with her sister-in-law, Kaela Humphries, because Kim didn't want to invest herself emotionally while so unsure about the marriage. And let's not forget Kardashian's freaking out because her husband wanted to move boxes of his belongings into her rather large L.A. residence. Oh, how Kardashian tried to cry -- the women on ABC's "The View" cogently noted there were no actual tears -- for the reality TV cameras over the embarrassment of having such a lavish wedding and wasting the time and money of all those guests now that her feelings have changed for Humphries.

As viewers knew months before this reality show wrapped, Kardashian let Humphries think they were going to continue working on their marriage and then on Oct. 31, 72 days into their union, she pulled a stunt that inspired a Star Tribune editor to write this headline on my story: "Kim's Halloween trick: Made-for-TV divorce."

In a way, that headline foreshadowed the televised annulment concept, which is getting some positive traction on the Internet.

There is a very curious element to the TMZ story about televising the annulment. It's in this sentence: "Sources tell us ... Kris and his lawyer, Lee Hutton, want 'to expose the M.O. of reality TV' by proving Kim had no intention of staying married to him, but just wanted big ratings for her reality show.'"

That exposing-the-M.O.-of-reality-TV quotation implied to the trained newspaper reader that Hutton had said those words.

"These last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind, with my practice going from coast to coast, so it's been hard for anybody to track me down," Hutton told me. He said he didn't give TMZ the quote that seems to be attributed to him.

If Hutton didn't talk to TMZ, one doesn't have to be a genius to know someone working for Kardashian probably did.

Between wanting the annulment to be heard in open court on TV and considering a lawsuit against his former manager, Kris Jenner, Humphries is probably looking a lot less chump-like to these Kardashians now. He's not going quietly, and every move Humphries makes probably increases the amount of the settlement that I believe Kardashian will ultimately pay to avoid having the sausagemaking secrets behind reality TV exposed in court.

The someday ex whom Kim thought was a tomato can has come out swinging. And he's not finished.

In an interview that aired Tuesday, Part 1 of a two-parter, on "Access Hollywood," Humphries said: "To me, it [the marriage] was real. I would never do something I didn't believe in. I can really only speak for myself."

Kardashian has scoffed at suggestions that she married for ratings and money, yet she also has described the marriage as a bad business decision.

Humphries said basketball, his family and "my faith in God" are helping him heal.

His faith in God is a lot less suspect than Kardashian's new interest in religion: Humphries paid to have his Minnesota pastor flown out to California to perform the ill-fated marriage ceremony.

On the other hand, many assume that Kardashian's interest in being seen going to church and talking about Bible study are ploys to rehab her image with a public that, like Humphries, felt duped.

More weighty mattersKARE11 weekend anchor Rena Sarigianopoulos didn't have breast reduction surgery.

She's been busy jogging.

I didn't immediately recognize Sarigianopoulos' face Monday night at the Bloomington Ramada Inn, where I went to shoot video of the invariably prodigious construction job that is Callista Gingrich's hair. She was in the metro with her Republican presidential hopeful husband, Newt Gingrich, who made a campaign appearance ahead of his fourth-place finish in the Minnesota caucuses. Before the political couple arrived, I asked Sarigianopoulos the question several readers have asked me: Did you have breast reduction surgery?

"No. I lost 25 pounds," she said.

To the credit of e-mailer Mitch, whose missive was the only one I could locate, that was one of the possibilities: "Most people talk about what the local news anchors' hair looks like, but I noticed that Rena on KARE11 seems to have smaller breasts. I only noticed since they were so large before. She did a good job of hiding them behind black or dark-color jackets. But now she is in the light-colored clothing and the chest seems a lot smaller. She either had breast reduction or lost a lot of weight and it all came from the boobs. Has anyone else mentioned this?"

Yes, but not in so much detail, Mitch.

Unlike Mitch, I had not noticed. However, Rena's mom did. The newswoman's mother called to ask What happened to your boobs?

We shared laughs about how much easier it is to engage in sports activities when you're not hauling around a lot of chest fat. I reminded Sarigianopoulos that while she may have less, she's still got more than I do.

"I'm all right, I'm all right," she said, confident about what remains.

C.J. is at 612.332.TIPS or cj@startribune.com.