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In January 2021, Kim Kardashian set Kimye fans on high alert by hiring divorce attorney Laura Wasser; and come February, she filed for divorce, confirming that their nearly seven-year marriage was through. The couple shares four kids, North, Psalm, Saint, and Chicago West, and an unthinkable amount of property together, so for many reasons, this split won’t be easy.
When it comes to Kardashian and West, it’s important to remember that these two have been on a rollercoaster since the very beginning.
“I feel like our love story is a love story for the ages,” West said in an interview on New York’s Hot 97 when he and Kim were engaged back in 2013. “I felt like when we first got together it was like a Romeo and Juliet kind-of-thing where it’s like she’s a reality star and I’m a rapper.”
As early as 2016, anonymous sources were raising concerns about their long-term compatibility, citing West’s “compulsive tweeting” to People as one source of friction between the two. Kardashian’s disclosure in July 2020 that West was struggling with bipolar disorder shed some further light on how his mental health had become a source of marital stress, and West’s 2020 presidential campaign only seemed to compound those frustrations.
“I’ve never spoken publicly about how this has affected us at home because I am very protective of our children and Kanye’s right to privacy when it comes to his health,” Kardashian said at the time. “But today, I feel like I should comment on it.”
When it comes to their divorce, however, Kardashian and West have commented much at all, only offering a glimpse of Kardashian’s decision process in the final season of Keeping Up With The Kardashians so far. As Kimye’s seventh wedding anniversary looms, take a look back at where this enigmatic couple has been.
A version of this article was originally published in July 2020.
2003-2011: Just Friends
The two first met in 2003 when Kim was Paris Hilton’s personal assistant — and their relationship started out platonic as they were both seeing other people. It wasn’t until 2012 that the pair took their relationship to the next level. And Amber Rose, Kanye’s ex who he was dating at the time went so far as to say, “Kim is one of the main reasons why me and Kanye are not together,” Rose said in an interview. She even accused the now reality star of cheating on then-boyfriend Reggie Bush, “They were both cheating on me and Reggie with each other.”
It wasn’t until 2016 that Kim and Amber squashed their drama and became friends.
2012: Turning Up the Heat
After the drama of Kim’s televised wedding to Kris Humphries, whom she was only married to for 72 days, was finally over it was only a matter of time before she and Kanye got together — and although they weren’t officially together when she was spotted at his 2012 Paris Fashion Week show, it would only be days later till they were seen holding hands in London while out on the town.
Then began the cryptic lyrics we all remember alluding to their romance. “And I’ll admit, I had fell in love with Kim, around the same time she had fell in love with him,” Kanye rapped in his song Cold which came out September of 2012 — around the same time her brother Rob questioned her about their relationship on an episode of KUWTK.
“I mean just ’cause I’m seen with someone, does that automatically mean that’s my boyfriend?” She quipped.
2013: Baby Bump Debut
This moment has been popping up for me since Kanye’s campaign rally Sunday. While making her Met Gala debut, pregnant Kim took the red carpet with Kanye glowing from ear-to-ear. But was Kanye truly happy?
“For one month and two months and three months, we talked about her not having this child. She had the [abortion] pills in her hand,” Kanye told attendees in South Carolina. And while Kim has reportedly been furious Kanye told his attendees this information, I’m still wondering if it’s true.
2013: Hello, North West
The couple officially became parents on June 15, 2013 welcoming their first child, North West — yet before North was born rumors circled that Kanye had cheated on Kim while she was pregnant. But a representative for Kanye squashed the gossip by saying, “This most recent attack on Kanye West and his family is totally without merit. It’s a blatant attempt by a misguided individual who is clearly seeking publicity, and another in a series of malicious stories drummed up by non-credible ‘news’ sources.”
2014: Italian Wedding Bells
Kanye popped the question on Kim’s 33rd birthday in the most extravagant way — the rapper rented out San Francisco’s AT&T baseball stadium surprising Kim with all of her family and friends. (Yes, it was filmed for an episode of KUWTK.) And when Kim said yes, fireworks went off and she got to slip on that $8M engagement ring.
Following their brief engagement, the couple was married in Florence — their wedding celebration reportedly cost $2.8M according to top-end wedding planner Jinane Kafrouny.
2015: And Then There Were Four
Kim welcomed their second child, Saint in 2015 — and the following year was a pretty tumultuous time for the couple and their family.
In October of 2016, Kim was robbed at gunpoint in Paris. “Five men wearing masks and police uniforms entered Kim’s building…they gained entry sometime between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m local time, bound her hands and feet with tape, gagged her and put her in the bathtub. They then stole one of Kim’s $4.6 million rings as well as a jewelry box, worth an estimated $5.6 million.”
“She begged for them to let her live,” a source told E! News, “And [said] she has babies at home…She thought they were for sure going to kill her.”
2016: Divorce Rumors
Following the Paris robbery, a series of events including Kanye canceling a portion of his Saint Pablo tour, slamming Beyoncé and Jay-Z, and an incident involving his personal trainer at the time Harley Pasternak resulted in Kanye being arrested and hospitalized.
Following his hospitalization, a source told E! News that Kanye sought outpatient treatment and that Kim wanted him to continue getting therapy. During this time divorce rumors circled but sources shut those down. And like we’re seeing today, Kim has and continues to be supportive of her husband. “Kim will of course always stay by Kanye’s side and support him and help him through it all,” the source continued.
2018: Jumping More Hurdles
In 2018 the couple welcomed their daughter Chicago via surrogate which the two were so thankful for. Kim took to her app at the time writing, “We are incredibly grateful to our surrogate who made our dreams come true with the greatest gift one could give and to our wonderful doctors and nurses for their special care.”
But months later they hit another rough patch and Kris Jenner was first to come out in affirmation of the couple’s stability. “I think they’re just so solid,” Kim’s mom told Us Weekly at the time. “They’re so connected, and they love each other very much, and they have a family that they’re committed to. They’re committed to one another, and people, you’re not always going to agree with each other forever. You’re going to have differences. You’re going to have things that pop up.”
2019: A Complete Family
Kim and Kanye turned to surrogacy once again to welcome their fourth child, Psalm, who was born in May 2019. At the end of that year, she confirmed on Keeping Up With the Kardashians that she was done having kids.
“I feel so complete. I really do feel like four is the perfect number [of kids] for me,” Kardashian said. “I feel so full, in the best way. But I’m done.”
2020: Love Lockdown
The couple has faced more turbulent times in 2020 (which is arguably the case for any relationship) especially amid lockdown during the pandemic.
According to Us Weekly, the couple had used their time at-home time to try and fix their marriage.
“They’ve had more time together to talk about their feelings, about the kids, her law career goals and his business ideas,” the source said. “She’s trying to keep her family together, especially for the kids’ sake.”
But West’s ill-advised presidential campaign and spilling of personal details about their family in the public eye may have made that hope impossible.
2020: Living Apart
In December 2020, a report ran that West and Kardashian had been living apart for some time and planned to continue to do so, with Kardashian and the kids living in Los Angeles while West lived on one of his properties in Wyoming.
“Kim and Kanye are struggling to stay together as a couple and have for quite some time now,” a source told Hollywood Life. “It doesn’t seem like she’ll ever actually file for divorce, at least anytime soon. They really are living separate lives right now and have for a while.”
2021: Lawyering Up
In January 2021, reports came in hot and heavy that a Kimye divorce was coming soon, and Kardashian hired attorney Laura Wasser to represent her.
“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 at the time. “Meanwhile Kanye is talking about running for president and saying other crazy s–t, and she’s just had enough of it.”
2021: Dividing Assets
After Kardashian officially filed for divorce in Feb. 2021, divorce proceedings could begin in earnest, and the couple will need to sort out custody, division of assets, and all the other logistics of separating when you’re both billionaires. In March, TMZ reported that Kardashian would be holding on to their family home in Hidden Hills, also indicating that she would be acting as the primary caretaker of their four kids going forward.
2021-2022: Public Jabs At One Another
Since their divorce filing in early 2021, the pair had their private fights made public by Kanye West. After Kim Kardashian’s opening monologue for Saturday Night Live, where one of her jokes consisted of a jab towards West, Kanye made things awkward (and scary) for everyone. West posted screenshots of their text fights, made inappropriate posts about Kardashian’s beau Pete Davidson on Instagram, and slammed Kardashian for letting their daughter North have a TikTok account.
2022: Kim Kardashian is Legally Single
After their public back and forth, Kim Kardashian was able to be declared legally single in early 2022 amid their divorce proceedings.
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