If you’ve managed to keep track of the ups and downs of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s chaotic divorce, you’ll be well aware that the couple’s four children have always been their top priority.
Whether it’s negotiating the school run or buying a house over the road from Kim’s, Ye has been incredibly vocal about wanting to remain close to his children — North, 8, Saint, 6, Chicago, 4, and Psalm, 3 — in spite of any tension between himself and Kim.
And as Kim’s relationship with Pete Davidson has intensified over the past few months, Ye has voiced a number of concerns about the prospect of the Saturday Night Live alum spending time with the kids — perhaps most notably, sharing texts in which he said that Pete would “never” be allowed to meet them.
So, it’s for this reason that fans of the former couple were somewhat surprised to see that Pete was recently photographed hanging out with Kim and Kanye’s eldest children on separate occasions.
After first being spotted riding around in an electric car with North in April, Pete was seen once again with Saint on a solo shopping trip in LA over the weekend.
As well as being photographed hand in hand outside a Cheesecake Factory, Pete and Saint also apparently visited a Walmart, where the duo “closely examined” the toys together.
Inevitably, fans quickly had a lot of questions about how Kanye might be feeling about the comedian’s close bond with his kids. And, though he’s been taking some time away from the spotlight recently, reports suggest Ye isn’t coping well.
“[It’s not something] Kanye was prepared for or even thinking about when he and Kim split,” a source told Hollywood Life this week.
They added that, although the rapper “knows the bond he has with his kids is unbreakable,” he’s still finding it hard to watch Pete build a relationship with them.
“For Pete and the kids to get so close, so fast, is deeply unsettling for Kanye,” they added. “It’s really difficult seeing photos of them together everywhere he goes, and he just wishes things were different.”
Another insider said that seeing Pete with the kids is not only incredibly hurtful for Ye as a father, but also intensifies the heartbreak he feels for the demise of his marriage.
“Kanye is still having trouble accepting that he can’t fix this and get his family back together,” the second source said. “He’s still very heartbroken and trying everything he can to stall the proceedings.”
They went on: “It’s painful for him to see Kim moving on with Pete and to see Pete spending all this time with his kids has magnified that pain even further.”
And on top of reports that Kanye — who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2016 — is currently seeking “behavioral treatment,” this new insight also coincides with speculation that Ye might be putting his musical career on pause for a while.
During a recent interview with Complex, Ye’s close collaborator Vory appeared to suggest that the Yeezy mogul will be taking a step back from music-making to focus on himself.
“I was just talking to [Kanye] today. We've been talking through my best friend who's also his assistant, because he hasn't been wanting to talk to anybody,” Vory said, before going on to explain that Ye had been supposed to attend his recent album release party.
“He's taking a year off, and he was like, ‘Damn, you think Vory is going to be mad at me if I don't go to his release party?’ And I was like, ‘Nah, you're straight, bro,’” he recalled.
Though not explicitly, Vory alluded to speculation that Kanye is struggling behind the scenes, telling the outlet: “He's battling his own shit.”
