Written by: Ibrahim
Edited by: Jessica
Visual by: Sarah
On February 19th, 2021, reality TV star Kimberly (Kim) Kardashian filed for divorce from her husband of seven years, Kanye (Ye) West, rumored to come about as a result of his bipolar disorder episodes and substance abuse. During their seven years of marriage, they had four children (North, Psalm, Chicago, Saint), all of whom Kardashian strived to achieve full custody of. She argued that she wanted control over her own life, which she felt she couldn’t get in her marriage.
While fans created major pressure, Kardashian was nevertheless able to maintain a relative state of calmness throughout the hatred, as she solely focused on getting the divorce finalized. E! News stated that “moving this divorce along isn’t something [Kanye’s] acting quickly on, despite Kim’s efforts.” West constantly delayed signing the papers, which Kardashian claims he had pushed back three times, possibly meaning that he was not over yet.
The tension between the estranged couple seemed to have dissipated when Kanye West started producing his 10th studio album, Donda. Kardashian also showed support for his album by wearing all-black outfits to the Met Gala event.
Both West and Kardashian appeared to have moved on from one another as pictures emerged involving Kim Kardashian and SNL star Pete Davidson together, and Kanye West with model Julia Fox as well.
However, this peace was short-lived as the controversy facing the two sparked up again on their daughter, Chicago West’s birthday. Kardashian had made the controversial decision to not invite [Kanye] West to her party, let alone let him wish his beloved daughter a happy birthday. Fans took extreme offense to Kardashian’s parenting methods for stripping her children away from their father, especially on their birthdays. Kim may have done this to protect her children as Kanye was going through a very public mental breakdowns, nonetheless, some Internet users argue that what she did to Kanye is unfair as, ultimately, he is still the father of their children.
Unfortunately, the drama didn’t stop there, as Kardashian and North started a TikTok account together, despite West not consenting for North to have a social media presence at her age. This harmless activity ignited a feud between the two as Kardashian claimed of West putting a hit out on her, to which he then responded, saying, “SO LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT I BEG TO GO TO MY DAUGHTERS PARTY… NOW I’M BEING ACCUSED OF PUTTING A (target) HER.” The conflict continued as Kardashian took to her Instagram story illustrating how “Kanye’s constant attacks on me in interviews and on social media is more hurtful than any TikTok North might create… Divorce is difficult enough on our children and Kanye’s obsession with trying to control and manipulate our situation so negatively and publicly is only causing further pain for all.”
Divorce is something very common in Hollywood culture, and the concept of co-parenting is not anything new to the Kardashian family. Kim’s sister, Kourtney Kardashian, has been tackling the challenges of co-parenting through COVID-19, and it looks like she and her co-parenting partner, Scott Disick, have had a very stable relationship. She mentioned how, “my problems shouldn’t affect our kids”, highlighting the importance of leaving your trouble behind for the betterment of one’s children. In other words, West and Kardashian could replicate the foundations of Kourtney’s divorce philosophy, and apply this blueprint to their problems.
As someone who has followed the relationship of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West for years, and is an avid consumer of Hollywood drama, sophomore Ilyas expressed his disappointment in the controversy. He revealed how both of them arguing and choosing to neglect each other from their lives is going to have a detrimental effect on their kids. He mentioned that “Kim and Kanye are being extremely immature by framing one another as bad people when in reality they should set aside their differences and do what’s best for their children.” Their complicated divorce has been formulated into an even bigger problem as Kim doesn’t want any media attention for it, while Kanye publicizes it on his Twitter.
Overall, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s divorce has been overcrowded with obstacles, whether it is the constant delays in signing papers, accusations, Twitter feuds, and unwanted media attention. As parents of North, Psalm, Chicago, and Saint, they could attempt to handle their divorce in private so that the kids don’t have negative publicized events to look back at in the future.