Kim Kardashian: Public split is awkward

Los Angeles - Kim Kardashian admits her very public marriage split has been "awkward".

The Keeping Up with the Kardashians star separated from Kris Humphries in October 2011, just 72 days after their lavish televised wedding, and she admits being a celebrity makes her ongoing divorce proceedings even more difficult because she feels she has "disappointed" so many people.

She told DuJour magazine: "Going through a divorce for anybody is devastating and heartbreaking, and then to have to do it and feel like you have to explain what is happening is such an awkward thing."

'It was very painful'

"You have to explain your choice to millions of people, and then they're disappointed. I'm disappointed. Why are they disappointed?"

Kim's younger sister, Khloe, 28, thinks the 32-year-old beauty has found the criticism she faced over her brief marriage particularly difficult because it was the first time she had been "bullied" and attacked by a number of people.

Khloe said: "Kim never had to endure any bullying in her younger years. I think to be thrown into a lion's den with everybody attacking her really hit her hard. It was very painful."