Kim Kardashian is opening up about her previous marriage to Kanye “Ye” West, and the difficulties they have faced since their divorce.
Appearing on Call Her Daddy, in an episode released Wednesday, Kardashian reflected on the beginnings of her relationship with West and what first drew her to the rapper. Kardashian recalled West being “larger than life” and she was “always learning with him.”
Kardashian and West married in 2014, but their divorced was finalized in 2022.
When looking back at moments that signaled the end of their marriage Kardashian said she possibly wasn’t “paying attention to them” at first. She explained, “I think when someone has their first mental break, you know, you wanna be super supportive and you wanna, like, help figure that out and you wanna really get into that with them and and be there for them.”
However, Kardashian noted that changes weren’t willing to be made. “It makes it really hard to continue on in a relationship that can be toxic,” she said. “When you have kids, it’s definitely harder to leave than it is to stay. And it changes everyone’s life forever.”
She also admitted that her friends and family could likely see the signs that things weren’t going good in their marriage. “I think I got really dissociated and there were like so many times where I was just like really quiet and trying to figure it all out,” she said.
Kardashian also reflected on when she knew it was time to walk away: ”Once my mental health starts to get affected and then I can’t parent the way that I need to and I can’t be present and focused, then there’s gotta be one of us that can. And I had to save myself in order to be a better mom for everyone. And I think, like, when everyone’s older, they’ll be able to understand it and see that all.”
West and Kardashian share four children together and co-parenting with the rapper now is “not easy” she said.
“I mean, I raise the kids, you know, full time,” she added. “They live with me. I welcome a great healthy relationship with my kids and their dad, and I think he knows that. I push for it all the time, but I also protect them when it’s time for that. And it goes in waves and phases and it’s a lot of work. But like I said earlier, I have the best memories and the best relationship, you know, with my dad. And even like, I love that, you know, I see [Khloé Kardashian’s ex] Tristan [Thompson] puts, you know, their kids to bed every night and takes them to school every day when he’s not, you know, in season. So I just welcome healthy relationships, but it’s not easy.”
She said that they haven’t heard from West in “a couple of months.”
“They always knew that he had a big life traveling before and was always on tour and all of that … and that he lives in different countries all the time and loves to live all over the place,” Kardashian said when asked how she explains those moments to their kids. “So, you know, we manage it really well. Like, they love, like their life, their routine and their schedule. And I think just their job as their mom is just to make sure that they stick to their routine, and they’re healthy and happy.”
She also assures that she has “never once” kept the kids away from him. “I think it’s all good and we’re living our life and then I just wake up, and there’s all these tweets about how I’ve kidnapped the kids and I’m like, it’s not a kidnapping, it’s a divorce. You know, we can still all be in each other’s lives and have group dinners. I just grew up so differently, seeing my family co-parent so great. And I see it with Khloé and Tristan, and I just see really healthy relationships.”
“Every time he has asked, I will always let them see their father. That’s just who I am,” she said. “You know, if there’s a time where it’s just really super unhealthy, I will, you know, say, ‘Hey, let’s do it here at my house, or let’s figure out a different time.’ But actually, when he is like that, he doesn’t really want to see the kids a lot, so if he’s having a hard time, he doesn’t so it’s always worked out. But, you know, he lives in all these different countries and I send them to Saudi Arabia and Italy and Japan and all over the world. Every time he asks, I’ve never once denied it. No, I don’t keep the kids, and I think that narrative really sucks for me and if I spoke out about it and rebutted it, I’m just not that girl.”
When asked about the final straw in their marriage, Kardashian said the musician speaking out against her family, as well as not feeling safe physically, emotionally and financially were signs it was time to walk away.
“I didn’t know what you’re gonna get when you wake up, and that’s like a really unsettling feeling,” she said. She also recalled when West was “in an episode.” West had revealed in 2018 that he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
“I would like come home, and we had like five Lamborghinis, and I’d come home and they’d all be gone if he was in an episode. And I’d be like, ‘Oh, wait. Where’s all our cars? Like, my new car?’ And it would be like, oh, he gave them away to all of his friends,” she said.
Despite ending their marriage and experiencing ups and downs after the fact, Kardashian said of their relationship, “An over a decade relationship with four beautiful children is not a failure.”
