Khloe Kardashian saved from downward spiral by big sister Kourtney

Reality star Khloe Kardashian credits her big sister Kourtney with saving her from a downward spiral of drinking and hard partying.

While the 31-year-old now leads a fit and healthy lifestyle, back in 2003 the star was on a slippery slope following the death of her beloved father, Robert Kardashian.

"After my dad died in 2003, I was partying all the time, drinking a lot and sleeping in every morning," she wrote on her blog on Wednesday (03Feb16). "At this time, my mom (Kris Jenner) and Kourtney were running their kids store Smooch, and when the space next door opened up, Kourt got it! She saw that I was spiraling and wanted to give me responsibility and a reason to wake up in the morning, so she told me I was going to help her run her new store."

Along with Kourtney and fellow big sister Kim, 35, the siblings launched their first DASH store, but it wasn't an easy process.

"Kourt, Kim and I were the only employees and really had no idea what we were doing," she continued. "We started DASH in 2006 and really struggled for a long time to make it a successful business - there were months we couldn't pay our bills, and the store didn't turn a profit for years."

The sisters put everything on 36-year-old Kourtney's credit card and took care of every aspect of the business themselves, even the cleaning.

The siblings' fortunes still didn't change even after the first season of their reality show, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, hit the small screen in 2007.

"The store was just breaking even for 6 or 7 years!" she added. "We didn't make any money, and it was really scary, Kourt and I lived together in an apartment down the street and we didn't own any cars, so we didn't have a lot of expenses - we'd either walk to work or get rides from our friends.

"Everything went into DASH, but we were really determined and kept working at it to get where we are today. Eventually, it paid off. People think that my sisters and I didn't have to work for our money, but we did!"