- - We Talked to the “All’s Fair” Cast About Merkins, Divorce and Lube—and It Was as Hilariously Chaotic as It Sounds

Brianne TracyOctober 30, 2025 at 8:30 PM

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Kim Kardashian is courting chaos amongst her All’s Fair castmates. The glamorous group—which, in addition to Kardashian, includes Glenn Close, Niecy Nash-Betts, Naomi Watts, Sarah Paulson and Teyana Taylor—is on-set of their People shoot in Los Angeles on Oct. 16, two days after Kardashian’s brand Skims launched (and quickly sold out) their viral faux pubic hair thong. At mere mention of the unconventional lingerie, the wheels of the conversation quickly “fall off,” as Nash-Betts puts it. “Merkins are the new Birkins,” Kardashian quips, sparking lots of riffing from the women. Eventually she tells the group, “Let’s keep it together!”

Over the course of the three-hour shoot, it becomes clear just how tight a bond they created while filming All’s Fair, Ryan Murphy’s new Hulu legal drama premiering Nov. 4. As the women trickle in one by one from the upstairs of the London West Hollywood for the shoot in the hotel’s ballroom, they are each met with hugs and compliments from the ladies who arrived before them. Close and Watts even pull out their phones to record Taylor’s arrival in her sleek, black designer outfit paired with giant Garfield slippers.

A week before they started filming, Murphy hosted a dinner so the group could get to know one another. “I think that really helped set the tone for what our relationship would be,” says Kardashian, 45. “We all had dinner, talked s---, had some drinks and really just got to know each other on a personal level.”

Set in L.A., All’s Fair follows a team of high-powered female divorce attorneys who leave a male-dominated firm to open their own practice. As the team takes on new cases and clients—played by guest stars like Judith Light, Brooke Shields, Jessica Simpson and Rick Springfield—they also navigate personal relationships, secrets and shifting allegiances.

“The theme every week is we have a story of a woman going through an unfortunate situation, and we're there to help her,” says Kardashian. “I think that the moral of this story for us as women is even if you are having a hard time, even if you don't believe in yourself at that moment, your lawyers are there, your girls are there to pick you up and help you believe in yourself again.”

Kardashian was No. 1 on the call sheet and the first to join the cast as Allura Grant, a lawyer going through her own divorce from her professional quarterback husband. “I mean, it’s Ryan Murphy—of course you’ve got to say yes,” she says of taking the role, loosely based on her real-life lawyer Laura Wasser, who served as a writing consultant on the series.

“Laura happened to be my attorney for two divorces out of the three, and her dad was my mom [Kris Jenner]'s attorney during her divorce with my dad [Robert Kardashian],” says Kardashian, who worked with Wasser during her divorces from exes Kanye West in 2022 and Kris Humphries in 2013 (she also divorced Damon Thomas in 2004). “So she has 40 years of stories, and I felt like I drew inspiration from seeing what a bad-ass woman she's been.”

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Sarah Paulson and Kim Kardashian

Murphy was inspired to craft the All’s Fair world around Kardashian—who shares kids North, 12, Saint, 9, Chicago, 7, and Psalm, 6, with West—after they worked together on her first major acting role in the 12th season of his series American Horror Story: Delicate. At first he approached her with a show idea based upon her more than 15 years on reality TV, both on Keeping Up With the Kardashians and The Kardashians.

“I was just like, ‘No, I don’t think that’s something that I’d be into,’ ” Kardashian recalls. “I think he was really shocked by that.”

Murphy then came back to her once again, this time with a show idea based on her seven-year law journey. “I was so for it,” she says. “I think what was really interesting is he came up with the concept first. Then he came up with his dream cast. Once everyone signed on, he wrote for every person. He said it’s usually the opposite.” As Murphy would text Kardashian about each new addition to the cast, “I’d be like, ‘No way!’ ” she says. “I didn’t even believe it was real until I showed up.”

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Teyana Taylor and Glenn Close

When it came time to film, Kardashian was focused on showing up prepared. “I am standing next to people who have done this a very long time and who I admire and respect and are the best at what they do,” she says. “Niecy would say, ‘That was amazing. Why don’t you try it this way?’ And just watching Glenn and seeing her character come to life with rage and tears. . . . You learn something new every single day.”

Close, 78, like her All’s Fair character Dina Standish, served as a mentor to the group. “I’m pretty confident everyone will say that we were all a little in awe that we were having this experience getting to watch and work with her,” says Paulson, 50. “She was so kind and generous to everyone.”

Nash-Betts, 55, adds that the 101 Dalmatians actress has “a wicked sense of humor,” and Taylor, 34, affectionately gave her a nickname inspired by Love Island USA: “She was mommy . . . Mamacita.”

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Naomi Watts and Niecy Nash-Betts

In turn, Close says, the women “all mentored me" — and they were still teaching her things, even on set. During the shoot, Taylor demonstrated the gestures for “clock it” (touching your pointer finger to your thumb) and “eat it” (touching your middle finger to your thumb).

Close asked for an explanation of "eat it."

“Like, clock your pixie because it’s eating.”

But what's a pixie? Close asked. “Your haircut!” Taylor responded.

The prep would come in handy when Kardashian wrangled the group for a TikTok; watching her work, it's not a surprise that Watts, 57, says the cast was in awe of Kardashian’s multitasking skills during filming. “We were watching her run a company and talk to her kids at night, like, ‘Is homework done? Get to bed. What have you eaten?’ ”

Nash-Betts would often “quiz” Kardashian as she also juggled studying on-set for the bar exam, which she took in July after six years of a law apprenticeship and passing both the baby bar and the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (a test required in California for candidates to be able to take the bar without an accredited law school education). She finds out her results in November.

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Sarah Paulson, Kim Kardashian and Niecy Nash-Betts behind the scenes of All's Fair

“She was studying the law and dealing with this character and running lines,” says Watts, who plays Allura’s best friend, Liberty Ronson. “She crushed it daily.”

Kardashian takes a moment to say she felt like she “tortured you guys reading my flashcards” in between lines. “It wasn’t torture—I was amazed,” says Close. Adds Nash-Betts: “It was women supporting women in front of and behind the camera.”

But what would a Murphy show be without some drama? Paulson serves up plenty as Carrington “Carr” Lane, the antagonist to Kardashian’s Allura who is left behind at the old firm and takes on Allura’s ex as her client in their divorce as an act of revenge.

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Teyana Taylor in All's Fair

“I had to say some really scandalous things in Kim’s face,” says Paulson. “I did at one time spit a potato chip on her. I was in her face screaming, and it was like, ‘Bing!’ I saw it go in her eye.”

While Paulson has worked on at least a dozen Murphy projects prior to this one, it's not often that she gets to play the villain. “I had the best time, I really did,” she says. “I love working in a high-stakes environment, and I don’t mean the environment of the set but of the scene.” That intensity was often cut with laughter. “Sarah and Kim sometimes could not look at each other without laughing,” says Close.

Nash-Betts—who plays no-nonsense partner Emerald Greene—says she’s never experienced “this level” of support on a set. “Some of us are not chickens that just hatched,” she says, while Close feigns shock. “We got a few feathers; we’ve been around the block a few times. When I was on the set of Ryan’s Scream Queens, I was looking for somebody grown to have a conversation with, so I love y’all for that.”

The youngest of the cast is Taylor, who plays Milan, an aspiring lawyer and mentee to Kardashian’s Allura. In the trailer, though, it’s revealed that Milan is keeping a secret: She’s having an affair with Allura’s ex. “Milan is the baby of the group and has stripes to earn and is figuring out how to navigate it,” says Taylor. “Allura is gracious enough to help her navigate, even though Milan has made mistakes. I think it’s important because it shows community and shows we won’t let men come between that community.”

Ser Baffo/Disney

Glenn Close behind the scenes of All's Fair

And only a tight-knit community could receive the gift of salmon-sperm facials the way this one did. During the interview, Kardashian says she gifted the women the experience as an early Christmas present, in addition to items from Skims, Balenciaga and Gucci.

“[My sister] Kourtney went to go get a facial yesterday at the salmon-sperm place, and they said, ‘Oh, well none of the girls have used it, so I'm going to give you a free one,’ ” she recalls. “I was like, ‘Why wouldn’t you get it?!’ ”

The group jumps to their own defense: “Wait, I was so excited about the gifts, I don’t think I opened the envelope. It was some salmon sperm in there?” Taylor asks. “Girl, why didn’t you say that?”

Nash-Betts is quick to chime in: “I’m using mine!”

Kardashian wasn’t the only one to give gifts: Close gave the women Lucite nameplates with their characters’ names on it to sit on their desks. Taylor left some perfumes in Paulson’s trailer after she “bullied me for my scent.”

And Watts, founder of the menopause beauty company Stripes, says she, “of course, handed out lube,” which Close is surprised to hear.

“Glenn’s like, ‘I don’t think I got that,’ ” says Paulson; Close agrees: “I’m like, ‘No. Lube?’ It’s been so long.” (Watts assures her, "I will set you up.”)

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The cast of All's Fair

If the cast has any regrets, it’s not stealing Close’s phone to call her Fatal Attraction costar Michael Douglas during their screening of the 1987 film at Jenner’s home. Jenner—who served as an executive producer on All’s Fair—hosted the screening after Kardashian revealed she’d never seen the film.

“Glenn was drunk—why didn’t we take her phone?!” asks Kardashian. Paulson deadpans: “Michael, you’re getting a call.”

The women crack up as they recall Jenner falling asleep during the movie (“Your mom popped up with her hair split in the back,” Paulson tells Kardashian) and Glenn’s commentary on what she remembered most about each scene.

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Close says it had been “a very long time” since she’d revisited the film. “I shocked myself,” she says. “It was wonderful to realize that the movie holds up incredibly well.”

As for Kardashian’s reaction? “It was insane, from the outfits to the boobs to the—,” she says, as Close interrupts: “I like that she says outfits first.”

In fact, Close has written into her contracts that she can take wardrobe home from her sets. “I laugh because if [Kim] could see my closet at home, I don’t even know what her reaction would be,” Close says. “Every time I walk into my closet, I think of her.”

This prompts the group to come up with a plan for their next adventure after All’s Fair promotion wraps. “Glenn, we’re coming over,” jokes Nash-Betts.

“With a camera,” Paulson adds, “and a bunch of merkins.”

Credits

Photographer: Greg Swales

Cinematographer: Eric Longden

on People

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”