It seems to be actually happening — no, not Kanye West's presidential campaign, but rather his divorce. The Grammy-winning rapper and his reality star turned entrepreneur wife Kim Kardashian are reportedly splitting after six years of marriage.
“She is serious about taking the bar exam and becoming a lawyer, she is serious about her prison reform campaign," a source told Page Six. "Meanwhile Kanye is talking about running for president and saying other crazy shit, and she’s just had enough of it.”
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There have been signs that things have been rocky for the pair for a while now and, they've been physically separated for the last few weeks. West spent the holidays at his $14 million Wyoming ranch instead of with his wife and kids, who were holed up at Kim's sister Kourtney's compound in Lake Tahoe, California. Kim also hasn't been wearing her wedding ring in any recent photos.
West did show up for his wife's notorious island birthday last October, but just for one day — enough time to gift her a weird hologram of her late father.
After becoming friends in 2000 and officially dating in 2011, Kim and West were married in 2014 in Italy. The couple shares four children: 7-year-old daughter North, 5-year-old son Saint, nearly 3-year-old daughter Chicago, and 19-month-old son Psalm.
The couple not only have a handful of children together, but also a very new and beloved Calabasas home. While Kim reportedly owns the land and adjoining plots it sits on, $40 million dollar house (plus $20 million in renovations) is owned and completely designed by West (if you see it, you'll understand why). A Page Six source, however, said that Kim's priority is keeping things as normal as possible for her children. “Kim is trying to get Kanye to turn over the Calabasas house to her, because that’s where the kids are based and growing up. That is their home.” Custody of the children is also front of mind in a divorce, and in 2014, it was rumoured the prenup did not include a custody clause.
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West, who has bipolar disorder, had a busy couple of years — he launched a last-minute presidential campaign in 2020, has vehemently supported President Trump (to the acute embarrassment of Kris Jenner), and also made damaging statements in 2018 about slavery being a choice. Kim has been equally busy, slowly separating herself from West by studying to be a lawyer and becoming increasingly involved in prison reform and criminal justice. Her efforts with prison reform did not sit well with West, though, which was made clear when he tweeted, “I been trying to get divorced since Kim met with Meek at the Warldolf [sic] for ‘prison reform,’” in July 2020. The tweet seemingly referenced a criminal justice summit his wife and rapper Meek Mill attended in late 2018.
If the news is indeed true, this would be Kim’s third divorce. The first was with her husband of three years, Damon Thomas, who she eloped when she was 19 in 2000. The second was with basketball player Kris Humphries in 2011, who she famously split up with after a mere 72 days together. Laura Wasser, the attorney who settled her divorced with Humphries, was reportedly hired for Kim's divorce with West.
Refinery29 reached out to reps for West and Kardashian for comment.