In February 2021, Kim Kardashian filed for divorce from Kanye West — who has legally changed his name to Ye — after six years of marriage.
Together, the two are mom and dad to 8-year-old North, 6-year-old Saint, 4-year-old Chicago, and 2-year-old Psalm.
Before the filing, for several months Ye had been living in an entirely different state than his family, which Kim later admitted was a big factor in her decision to separate.
But for the sake of their children, Kim has always been determined to have a healthy co-parenting relationship with Ye, having been inspired by her own parents, Kris Jenner and Robert Kardashian.
Initially, this seemed to be going to plan, with Kim and Ye getting on so well after their split that she even wore a wedding dress onstage at his Donda listening party over the summer.
But just weeks after this united front, cracks began to show between the former couple when Kim started dating Saturday Night Live comic Pete Davidson in October.
At first, Ye publicly begged for Kim to take him back, and even suggested that they were set to reconcile as he insisted that he had “never seen the divorce papers,” and paid tribute to her onstage during a concert in December.
When Kim then filed to be legally single, alleging that Ye had ignored “repeated requests” to officially terminate their marriage, Ye appeared to switch up his approach as he began dating a string of women before embarking on a whirlwind romance with Julia Fox.
Following their abrupt split in February, Julia claimed that Ye had told her to be as public as possible with their relationship.
While tension was clearly starting to grow between Ye and Kim at the end of 2021, things didn’t really fall apart until the new year, when Ye began an onslaught of very public attacks against both Kim and Pete through his song lyrics and social media.
He took aim at Kim’s parenting style, accused her of “kidnap” when she allegedly didn’t tell him where Chicago’s birthday party was being held and claimed that she was keeping him from their kids when security apparently stopped him from entering her home.
Ye also threatened to “beat Pete Davidson’s ass,” released a music video that depicted him kidnapping, decapitating, and burying Pete alive, and boasted about him and his fans driving the comedian off Instagram after he had deleted his account when his first post was flooded with messages calling him “Skete” and telling him to “find God.”
Things escalated over the weekend when Ye went on social media to accuse Kim of keeping their children from him. He explained that he had messaged her on Saturday to say that he’d moved the time of his Sunday Service the following morning, but she told him that North wouldn’t be able to attend as she was at a sleepover.
In various Instagram videos, Ye said that he had been at Kim’s house three times during the week to take the kids to school, help them with homework, and put them to bed. Appearing to highlight Kim’s willingness to co-parent peacefully, Ye told followers: “I was in the house with Kim, putting the kids to bed, doing puzzles, doing homework.”
But things soured off the back of North’s sleepover, and on Sunday Ye shared a screenshot of a text he’d sent Kim that read: “When I say bring my kids somewhere. I’m not going through this no more. Why the fuck is it up to you where my kids are if we so called have joint custody?”
He then targeted Kim for posting a new TikTok video with North on their shared account during the week, with Ye previously accusing Kim of “poking the bear” and “antagonizing” him by uploading clips with their daughter.
As he expressed his concern about North being on social media with her mom, Ye revealed the school North goes to and branded it a “godless” establishment before admitting that he feared his eldest daughter was “being led by people who don’t believe in God.”
Ye went on to call Kim a “bitter baby mama” as he suggested that she didn’t let North attend Sunday Service because he was pictured at a basketball game with new girlfriend Chaney Jones last week.
Amid Ye’s constant comments over the past three months, Kim has won praise for handling the messy situation in such a “dignified” way after only publicly responding twice.
In February, Kim issued a statement on Instagram after Ye’s first post slamming her for sharing TikTok videos with North. She said that Ye was making co-parenting “impossible” and that he was obsessed with “trying to control and manipulate” their separation.
"Kanye's constant attacks on me in interviews and on social media is actually more hurtful than any TikTok North might create,” Kim wrote at the time. “As the parent who is the main provider and caregiver for our children I am doing my best to protect our daughter while also allowing her to express her creativity in the medium that she wishes with adult supervision — because it brings her happiness.”
She added: “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. From the beginning I have wanted nothing but a healthy and supportive co-parenting relationship because it is what is best for our children and it saddens me that Kanye continues to make it impossible every step of the way.”
And on Monday, Kim called Ye out for suggesting that he was being kept from his children. She commented on one of his Instagram posts: “Please stop with this narrative, you were just here this morning picking up the kids for school.”
Despite Kim largely keeping quiet in public, legal documents that were obtained by TMZ last month revealed that Ye’s posts have been causing her “emotional distress” behind the scenes.
And Kim has now explained why she is so reluctant to speak out against Ye as she admitted that she just tries to “ignore” him, no matter how much he attacks her.
Kicking off the discussion on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, host Ellen said: “Everything that’s going on with Kanye, you were always protective of him no matter what is happening or what he’s saying. You always protect him because of the kids, and I think that’s a beautiful thing.”
As the audience applauded, Kim replied: “I think that’s just who I am and I always saw such a good example in my mom and dad and their relationship, so I’m always hopeful. And no matter what goes on, it’s the father of my kids — I’ll always be protective.”
“I always want my kids to just see the best of the best so, as hard as it can be sometimes, I do try to ignore it and just try to do whatever is best for the kids. Take the high road,” she added.
Kim also said that she tries to find lessons in every challenge that life gives her, and that she is less concerned about people knowing the truth than she used to be.
“I also think sometimes these are lessons, this was put in my life for a reason,” she said. “As hard as it is, I try to sit still sometimes and say: ‘What is this lesson? What am I meant to learn from it and how can I just get through it?’”
“I know that seems super zen,” Kim said, laughing. “It’s just really what I do. I think: ‘OK, I have to get better at this.’ One of my things, I used to care so much about narratives and what’s true and what’s not true on any subject. And really, I just live my life the way I think is right and I feel is right in my soul and push forward and do the best I can.”
“That’s the whole message I try to take away from anything not going your way in life; just try to learn, move on, and be a good person — it’s really simple!” She concluded.
Kim has been supported by her boyfriend Pete while trying to navigate her and Ye’s strained relationship, and he has been seen to try to help the situation in a series of leaked messages.
In February, Ye posted a screenshot of a text that Pete had sent him vowing to never get between him and his kids. It was then claimed at the weekend that Pete had asked SNL not to make jokes about Ye on the show, and that he had also stopped his comedian friends from mocking the rapper in their routines.
Pete’s best friend, Dave Sirus, leaked screenshots of texts that Pete had sent to Ye on Sunday, with the exchange seemingly prompted after Ye called Kim that morning about North being on TikTok and missing Sunday Service.
“Can you please take a second and calm down. It’s 8am and it don’t gotta be like this. Kim is literally the best mother I’ve ever met,” Pete wrote. “What she does for those kids is amazing and you are so fucking lucky that she’s your kids’ mom. I’ve decided I’m not gonna let you treat us this way anymore and I’m done being quiet. Grow the fuck up.”
Pete went on to offer to meet up with Ye so that they could speak “man to man,” but Ye was only willing to speak to him if he came to Sunday Service.
Pete said that he wanted to keep the meeting private, adding: “I’m not here for pictures and press, which is obviously all you care about.”
Pete has spoken at length about having borderline personality disorder in the past, and he also encouraged Ye — who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2016 — to get help with his mental health, telling him: “You don’t have to feel this way anymore.”
He went on to say that he has Ye’s back despite the rapper’s treatment of him because he wants things to be “smooth” for Kim and the kids.
But Pete then suggested that Ye’s attacks actually began in private last year, as he concluded: “If you continue to press me like you have for the past six months I’m gonna stop being nice.”
After the text exchange, Ye continued to lash out at Pete online, and on Wednesday he highlighted a controversial joke that Pete had made about “sex with babies” during a 2019 stand-up comedy routine.
He then said he was "concerned" that Pete will get Kim "hooked on drugs," claiming that "he's in rehab every 2 months."
Shortly after, Ye’s Instagram account was suspended for 24 hours for violating policies on hate speech, bullying, and harassment. In addition to his attacks on Pete, Ye had taken aim at several other people online that day — including in one caption calling Trevor Noah a racial slur.
