Kim Kardashian West – the reality TV superstar who is reportedly worth AU$114 million – has been accused of “acting poor” in her latest posts on Instagram.

The series of nine images, which see the social media mogul and her famous family interacting in a desolate, plain home, are in stark contrast to those published prior to the 36-year-old’s October Paris robbery, where she was held at gunpoint and stripped of her most valuable jewels.

Sitting on an old green couch, or draped across dusty shag carpet, the millionaire family has made the shift clear, but their intent has confused followers. Now, fans have been polarised into two camps.

“Lets act poor for the aesthetic. How rude to people who are actually poor,” one commenter wrote on an image of rapper husband Kanye West eating cheap instant noodles. “Poverty is not an aesthetic,” added another.

A photo posted by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on

Jan 6, 2017 at 9:39am PST

Anger that Kardashian West – the woman renowned as “being famous for being famous” – has glamourised the real life struggle of millions permeates each of the nine comment sections.

“Wats with the same outfit and rusty background like your not living in a luxury mansion, but a clapped up shelter house with cheap furniture?[sic]”

“Why does she have to be acting poor? Why can’t they just be visiting family? I find this so offensive.”

It’s a fair comment – to be trapped in a cycle of disadvantage can be crippling. To have your ‘simpler’ way of life caricatured by society’s most privileged members, as if it is some artsy form of ‘expression’, borders on patronising.

While Kardashian West may have spent an hour pretending to wear tired second-hand clothes and relished the opportunity of lying on that tired, old couch, she likely departed the scene in a chauffeur-driven luxury car, which she called with a shiny new iPhone, dialed with perfectly manicured fingernails.

A photo posted by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on

Jan 10, 2017 at 1:20pm PST

But for every message of disdain, there’s at least one of praise.

“So nice to see some normal everyday photos of you and your loved ones,” one message reads. Another: “I love these, so beautiful. They look like someones family photo album from 1975.”

Perhaps after the most traumatic event of her life, during which she screamed pleas to spare her life because she has “babies at home”, Kardashian West has now decided to portray not what sheowns– but what shevalues.

A photo posted by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on

Jan 5, 2017 at 9:23am PST

“They’re not ‘trying to be poor’ people. Kim had an incredibly traumatic experience and now she and [Kanye] are just being less flashy about their money on the internet,” a fan said.

“She can’t ever win,” another agreed. “Ppl hated on her when she showed off her wealth and now she’s showing her normal lifestyle everyone’s judging her. [sic]”

Maybe, just maybe, this is a conscious decision to not flaunt wealth, glimmering jewels or designer shoes. Kim Kardashian West is showing us who she loves, and in turn, demonstrating the lesson she learned from a terrifying, life-changing experience.

So, where do you stand?