Kim Kardashian says her controversial comments that 'nobody wants to work these days' were taken out of context

• Kim Kardashian told Variety in March that "it seems like no one wants to work these days."
• Her comments drew backlash, with people citing her privilege in relation to her business success.

Kim Kardashian clarified her comments about women business in an ABC News interview, after telling Variety earlier in March that "it seems like nobody wants to work these days."

In the March Variety interview, which featured Kim along her sisters Kourtney and Khloé as well as their mother Kris Jenner, Kardashian said that her advice to women in business was to "get your fucking ass up and work."

Kardashian's comments drew backlash, with a Variety tweet featuring the remarks going viral as people criticized them, saying that her privilege was crucial to her success. In an interview with ABC News that aired on Good Morning America on Monday, Kardashian apologized for the way her comments were received, and clarified them.

"That statement that I said was without questions and conversation around it," Kardashian told ABC News. "It became a soundbite really with no context."

Kardashian said that the statement she gave came on the heels of a previous question, which she told ABC News was, "after 20 years of being in the business, you're famous for being famous."

In response to the characterization that she's "famous for being famous," Kardashian told Variety that she and her sisters "focus on the positive" and "work our asses off." According to Kardashian, that question set the tone for her response about what advice she'd give to women in business.

"It wasn't a blanket statement towards women or to feel like I don't respect the work or think that they don't work hard," Kardashian told ABC News. "I know that they do. So it was taken out of context, but I'm really sorry if it was received that way."

Kardashian is the founder of loungewear and shapewear brand Skims, and her sisters also run businesses, like Khloé's Good American clothing brand and Kourtney's Poosh lifestyle brand. Kardashian told ABC News that being on a reality show or having a large social media following doesn't spell immediate business success.

"You have to really work hard to get there, even if it might seem like it's easy and that you can build a really successful business off of social media," she said. "You can if you put in a lot of hard work."