Soon after Kim Kardashian announced her engagement to that bonehead-looking fella with the same name as Kim’s mom, the speculation quickly turned to “How much will this famewhore family make from the wedding, etc?” Early estimates put the figure around $5 million, when taking into account the magazine deals, E! “specials” and product placement. Well, it seems like Kim – wanting to seem more legit, I think – sold the engagement story and an advance on the wedding to People Magazine, rather than one of the trashier tabloids (where she belongs). Page Six claims that Kim worked out a $1 million deal with People, but now People‘s editor is thinking “Er… what did we just do?!”

People magazine is paying Kim Kardashian more than $1 million for exclusive coverage of her engagement and wedding, sources told Page Six — but now the mag’s editors are concerned that the public fascination over the curvy beauty may be waning.

Kim’s surprise engagement to NBA star Kris Humphries graced the cover of People last month, with the mag touting “the incredible proposal — and the 20.5 carat ring.” The weekly paid her $300,000 and has now made a second deal for coverage of the reality star’s wedding for just over $1 million.

But some magazine staffers are concerned their investment won’t be recouped, according to sources. The $1 million deal was reached after OK! magazine put in an offer of nearly double that but backed out. No official date for the big day has yet been set.

[From Page Six]

The thing about wedding photos is that they’re only worth a big magazine payout if the magazine is ensured exclusivity. The Kardashians are not exclusive to one media outlet, one tabloid, one photo agency, or one channel (okay, E! does get the bulk of it, but not everything). People Magazine’s editors began looking at the logistics of trying to maintain exclusivity and realized that by the time they went to print on any kind of “wedding photo shoot,” most of the blogs would have already published photos, plus E! would simply have better coverage overall.

Meanwhile, remember the whole controversy last week with In Touch Weekly getting an interview with NFL player Bret Lockett, who claimed he and Kim had a five-month “affair”? Well, Bret is sticking by most of his original story, but when pressed for specifics, he claimed that he and Kim never technically met, they just sexted and had phone sex. He claims it was “physical” because Kim said she was touching herself while they spoke on the phone. Er….

Kim Kardashian earlier this week slammed Bret Lockett, the NFL player who alleges he had a five-month affair with the reality star behind her fiancé Kris Humphries‘ back.

Kardashian, who vehemently denied Lockett’s claims, even had her lawyers go after him, asking the football player to stop “spreading these false and malicious statements about Ms. Kardashian in an attempt to garner publicity.”

Her attorneys contend, “Mr. Lockett knows, there is not now, and never has been such a relationship… Ms. Kardashian does not know and has never even met Mr. Lockett.”

Kardashian’s legal team further demanded that Lockett admit he lied about a relationship.

Despite the strong stance from Kardashian’s camp, the pro athlete appeared on CNN’s “Showbiz Tonight” last night and stood his ground.

When questioned whether he really had a physical relationship with Kardashian, Lockett explained, “I said before that it was a physical relationship… There was a physical aspect in the relationship… She did tell me that she was touching herself in a physical way over the phone towards me.”

He added, “Was it a physical relationship… that I saw her in person? No.”

And when asked if they have even ever met, Lockett replied, “No, we have not… She was very busy.”

Still, Lockett maintains he’s not lying and said, “I do not plan on apologizing or retracting anything. What I said is the complete honest truth.”

Watch the video below, and tell us if you believe Lockett or not.

[From Gossip Cop]

Um… okay, I believe that Bret believes he was having phone sex with Kim, and that she was sexting him sexy sweet nothings like “Hey baby” and “send me a dong shot!” (she didn’t really text that exactly, but she totally wanted one). But here’s the question: was it actually KIM on the phone? I still kind of believe it was. We’ll see how it all plays out. Speaking of, even though Kim and her lawyers are threatening all kinds of legal actions, no lawsuit has been filed yet. Interesting.

Here’s Bret’s interview on CNN:

Photos courtesy of Fame & WENN.