Kim Kardashian cuts Australia tour short

Reportedly distraught over ending her much-ballyhooed 72-day marriage and the public backlash that followed, Kim Kardashian cut short a promotional tour of Australia by a day, canceling a scheduled Saturday appearance at the nation's largest horse race gala.

Swisse, the vitamin company she was hired to promote at Melbourne's annual Spring Racing Carnival, said in a statement, "All indications were that Kim wanted to fulfill all of her commitments once she landed in Australia, but has obviously changed her mind given her very difficult personal challenges at the moment."

"I am very disappointed that I am unable to attend the Swisse marquee, but I hope to come back and work with the Swisse team at another point in time," Kardashian, 31, told the Melbourne newspaper the Herald Sun.

Reports in the Australian press of her appearance fee there ranged as high as $150,000. Swisse reportedly asked Kardashian's sister and business partner, Khloé Kardashian, who had accompanied Kim to Australia, to substitute, but the siblings were expected to fly home to Los Angeles together Thursday or Friday.

Kardashian had earlier professed her "love [for] our fan base out here," telling the Australian morning show "Sunrise" that, "Of course, I do want some time to myself and it's a really tough thing to go through, but I didn't want to bail on everyone and, you know, skip out on this commitment."

Meantime, her estranged husband, New Jersey Nets forward Kris Humphries, 26, was photographed for the first time without the wedding ring he has worn since the couple's Aug. 20 nuptials. Us Weekly reported that Humphries, who has been in his Minnesota hometown during the NBA lockout, was seen ringless exiting a gym Thursday. Kardashian has worn neither her wedding nor her engagement ring since filing for divorce Monday.

The gossip site RadarOnline.com said Thursday that the couple still talk on the phone and exchange text messages.

SEE PHOTOSKim Kardashian through the years