Over the last few weeks, rumors have been swirling that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are on the brink of divorce.
Page Six were the first to break the reports claiming that the pair, who married in 2014 and share four children, had decided to go their separate ways after spending much of the last year apart.
"This divorce is happening because Kim has grown up a lot," a source told the outlet. "She is serious about taking the bar exam and becoming a lawyer, she is serious about her prison reform campaign. Meanwhile Kanye is talking about running for president and saying other crazy shit, and she's just had enough of it."
"It's gotten to the point where they haven't spent time together as a married couple in months," a source said. "They've seen each other for the sake of the kids but have been living separately. Kim knows the marriage is over. She's known for a while."
However, since then both Kim and Kanye have remained silent on the reports and no official confirmation of their divorce has arrived. In fact, Kim has created more confusion by posing for photos both with and without her wedding ring.
The day before the reports of divorce broke, Kim uploaded an Instagram photo to promote Skims, and her wedding ring — which she always wears — was nowhere to be seen. People immediately began speculating that its removal was Kim signaling that the reports were true. However, a day later, Kim stepped out in LA with her wedding ring firmly back on, before deleting the image from her Instagram entirely.
At the time, I theorized that Kim deleted the photo and kept quiet on the divorce rumors was because she was planning to address the subject on the upcoming 20th and final season of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, which is set to air over the next few months.
After all, for 14 years the family have followed the same tradition of stoking media gossip in the run up to each season premiere before leaving the big reveal to the show. And Season 20 will be their last chance to maximise the drama before KUWTK ends.
And it seems that theory could be accurate, with Page Six now reporting that Kim and Kanye's marital issues will be a key storyline in the show's final season.
Apparently the disintegration of Kimye's marriage will "feature heavily in the final storyline" as the family bow out after 14 years on screen.
"The Kardashians intend to go out with a bang," a source said. "They've filmed Kim discussing her marital problems. But everyone involved is on a nondisclosure agreement, because the finale won't screen until later in 2021."
And a new interview with KUWTK's executive producer, Ryan Seacrest appeared to lend credence to the reports that the Kardashians want to "go out with a bang" after he confirmed that this will be their last foray into reality TV.
After the Kardashians signed a brand-new content deal with Hulu at the end of last year, many fans of KUWTK were hopeful that it meant the family was set to create a reality show on the platform.
However, those hopes were dashed when, on the final day of KUWTK shooting, Kim told fans the family were finished filming their lives "forever."
"I think they have a lot of ideas and [will do] a lot of things that they may have not had a chance to do with Keeping Up with the Kardashians, because it was such a strong franchise and people wanted what they saw from the family," Ryan told People. "And that's what they got for 20 seasons."
"So I have a feeling they have a stack of ideas," he added. "My guess would be they want to evolve a little bit from the show that everybody has seen and do something differently."
"I'm sure it will definitely pique people's interest, but I think it remains to be seen what exactly they will do," he concluded.
Well, given the family wrapped the majority of filming two weeks ago, let's hope it isn't too long until the first teaser trailer for Season 20 drops and we finally get all the details on the state of Kimye's marriage.
