Khloe Kardashian should know by now that she can't protect her family from rumors. Still, when it comes to her little sisters, she's not stepping down without a fight. Khloe recently went on a Twitter rant in defense of half-sisters Kylie and Kendall Jenner. The offending rumor was that the teenagers (Kylie is 16, Kendall is 17) have been partying a little too hard, sneaking into 21-and-over clubs and scoring drinks with fake IDs. Khloe inadvertently added fuel to the fire when she posted a tipsy-looking picture of herself and her sisters dancing. As she explained in her tweets, the photo was innocent—and she's tired of people "assuming the worst" about two high school kids.
Khloe offering to take a TMZ bullet for her sisters is touching, if pointless. The Jenner sisters are the Kardashian family's rising stars, and unless they decide to break with tradition and leave the spotlight, they're going to have to put up with rumors.
A few days before Khloe rushed to their defense, Kendall and Kylie attempted to make their own case on Twitter.
So it seems like they're being good and proactive about protecting their reputations. Kris Jenner has coached them well. We can't give their mom too much credit, though; it was her decision to raise her daughters inside a publicity machine, and now they're forced to handle the consequences on their own.
Or maybe this is all part of a master plan to take the attention off of Kris and Bruce Jenner's divorce, and Khloe's hubby Lamar Odom's drug problem? The media is being flooded with stories about Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's engagement, and the Jenner sisters now have their pictures splashed everywhere, too. Maybe Khloe's Twitter rant was just expressing a secret Kardashian family code: if one of them is getting negative press, it's up to the others to redirect the spotlight.
Donna Kaufman is a freelance writer and iVillage contributor—find her on Twitter.
A version of this story originally appeared on iVillage.