Jonathan Cheban Had to Become Foodgod Because Kim Kardashian's Kids Were Getting His KUWTK Airtime

Back in 2017, Kim Kardashian bestie Jonathan Cheban legally changed his name to Foodgod. And now we know the whole back story behind his reinvention — and the moniker — in his own words.

Cheban dished on his transformation on the first episode of his new podcast, Foodgod: OMFG, in which he brought on Kim as the first guest. Recalling the story of how it all began years ago, he began, "At this point, I am miserable because the social media stars are growing, the reality stuff is going down, Kim and everybody is like having nine babies, I'm like, 'Oh my god, my time is going to start ticking down on the show and I'm not going to be on as much because there’s so many kids. Why am I needed — except being funny, hysterical, witty, fast and always there for them, good looking, smart? So I was like almost depressed."

At that point, he considered various projects like launching a website. But overall, he wondered, "What do I do? So, I was like I need to be some name. Scott [Disick] is The Lord. And I realized I like that you become that thing. So I wanted a name that would make me a thing. I wanted to be the name. I didn’t know how to do that. We finally figured it out."

It came together when a group of friends was sitting at the Sugar Factory. "They bring a cheeseburger without cheese with white chocolate on top of the cheeseburger," Cheban recalled. At that moment, Cheban's friend exclaimed that he could be the "Food Guy," which didn't quite click — but the friend's girlfriend nailed it when she suggested "Foodgod" instead.

"I'm like, that’s f---ing amazing!" Cheban recalled. "I was frozen. I go, holy crap! So that was step one. Step two was getting passed the Kardashian police."

"So, we were on our way to Iceland that next day literally. So I’m all packed — it was me, Kim, Simon, Kourtney, Kanye... We’re sitting at the airport lounge and I said, let me test it with Kim and Kanye. If Kanye and Kim don’t laugh at it, there’s a chance that I could go with it. But if they did laugh at it, it would be a mockery and I'd never be the Foodgod that I am right now."

He continued, "So I tell them the name and there was like no reaction, nobody cared, bad or good. I'm not satisfied."

But eventually, it was actually Kanye who would actually validate — and solidify — the name.

"So of course I'm hungry and I start an uprising," Cheban recalled. "So we go to McDonald's in the airport. All of a sudden, there’s paparazzi in the airport, there’s like a million fans. So I'm ordering food. I'm the first one in the line with them pushed against me, with security and all of the fans behind us. I'm like, let me order my chicken nuggets with the buffalo sauce. And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, a voice of god comes out and out of nowhere he goes to me, 'Yo, Foodgod! Can you get me a Diet Coke? And I’m like oh my god. Foodgod was freaking born. And the whole trip in Iceland, Kanye was like, 'That’s some Foodgod vibes...'"

Back stateside after the Iceland trip, Cheban found himself deep in conversation with Kanye, mulling the merits of watermelon juice over orange juice. "So, he goes to me, 'Wow, that is is some Foodgod s--- right there. And after that weekend, Foodgod was born thanks to Kanye West christening the Foodgod."

So there you have it.