Kim Kardashian: 'Armed robbery changed me for the better'

Kim Kardashian struggled to control her tears as she admitted she believes the horrific armed robbery she was subjected to was "meant to happen".

The 36-year-old reality star was bound and gagged as gun-wielding masked men broke into her Paris hotel and made off with millions of dollars worth of jewelry and cash last October (16).

Since the incident, Kim has drastically changed the way she lives her life, and has been keeping out of the public eye more in recent months.

However, her first television interview since the traumatic incident is set to air on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Thursday (27Apr17), with the mother-of-two revealing how much the robbery has changed her as a person in the pre-taped interview.

"I know it sounds crazy, but I know that was meant to happen to me," she told Ellen. "I don't want to start crying but I know it was meant to happen. I feel like I'm such a different person. I don't want to cry anymore. I really feel like things happen in your life to teach you things."

Struggling to control her emotions as her voice wavered, Kim was handed a tissue by Ellen and encouraged to keep talking by a round of applause from the sympathetic audience.

Since the incident, Kim and her family have also been much more selective about the things they share on social media, after police indicated the robbers had been able to form a timeline of her activities through her postings on sites such as Snapchat. Kim also previously made no secret of her wealth, sharing snaps of items including her 20 carat engagement ring, which was taken in the robbery, on social media.

"'It was probably no secret, you see it on the show," she explained. "I was definitely materialistic before, not that there's anything bad with having things and working hard to get those things. I'm really proud of everyone around me that's successful.

"Of course when you get engaged you're going to show off your ring, if you get a car - no matter what it is - you feel really proud and you might show it off on social media. I'm not here to show off the way that I used to (be). It's just not who I am anymore."

Kim added that she has also become a better mother to daughter North, three, and 16-month-old son Saint, her children with husband Kanye West, since the robbery.

"I'm so happy that my kids get this me, that this is who I am raising my kids. I just don't care about that stuff anymore. I really don't," she concluded, smiling.