Kim and Ye were married for seven years before Kim filed for divorce in 2021. They have four kids together: daughters North, 12, and Chicago, 7, and sons Saint, 9, and Psalm, 6.
Kim said, “It’s not easy. I mean, I raise the kids, you know, full-time. They live with me.”
While it’s tough, Kim said she encourages a strong relationship between Ye and their children. “I welcome a great healthy relationship with my kids and their dad,” she shared, “and I think he knows that. I push for it all the time, but I also protect them when it’s time for that. And it goes in waves and phases, and it’s a lot of work.”
Kim explained that her approach to coparenting stems from the close relationship she had with her own father and what she sees between Tristan Thompson and his and Khloé Kardashian’s two kids. “I have the best memories and the best relationship, you know, with my dad,” she said. “And even like, I love that, you know, I see Tristan puts, you know, their kids to bed every night and takes them to school every day when he’s not, you know, in season. So I just welcome healthy relationships, but it’s not easy.”
When asked when their kids last saw Ye, Kim answered, “Whenever he’ll call for them and ask. It’s probably been a couple months since we’ve heard from him.”
According to Kim, part of the challenge is that Ye lives in multiple countries while she and the kids are based in LA. She said, “They always knew that he had a big life traveling before and was always on tour and all of that, so it’s, you know, and that he lives in different countries all the time and loves to live all over the place. So, you know, we manage it really well. Like, they love, like, their life, their routine, and their schedule. And I think just [my] job as their mom is just to make sure that they stick to their routine and they’re healthy and happy.”
But Kim made it clear that she doesn’t intentionally “keep” their kids from Ye — a claim that he has made several times publicly.
“I’ve never once done that,” she stated. “Like, there’s been so many times where I’ve been like, ‘Oh, I just wanna show all of these texts. What are you talking about?’ Haven’t heard? I begged them, you know, to go hang out or things like that. It’s more of just the narrative that, like, I think it’s all good and we’re living our life and then I just wake up and there’s all these tweets about how I’ve kidnapped the kids, and I’m like, it’s not a kidnapping, it’s a divorce. You know, we can still all be in each other’s lives and have group dinners. I mean, I just grew up so differently, seeing my family coparent so great. And I see it with Khloé and Tristan, and I just see really healthy relationships.”
Elsewhere, Kim also reflected on the breakdown of her marriage to Ye, whom she began dating in 2012. When asked whether there was a final straw, Kim said that there wasn’t just one moment — but rather “a lot of things that [she] wouldn’t deal with,” including speaking negatively about her family and airing personal matters online.
“Just not feeling safe, you know, not even physically, just, like, maybe emotionally or even, you know, financially,” she explained. “I would, like, come home, and we had, like, five Lamborghinis, and I’d come home and they’d all be gone if he was in an episode. And I’d be like, ‘Oh, wait. Where’s all our cars? Like, my new car?’ And it would be like, oh, he gave them away to all of his friends.”
Kim said she would have “done anything to make it work,” but ultimately, Ye was unwilling “to make changes” that, to her, would have been “super healthy and beneficial” to their marriage.
“It makes it really hard to continue on in a relationship that can be toxic,” she said. “When you have kids, it’s definitely harder to leave than it is to stay. And it changes everyone’s life forever.”
“Once my mental health starts to get affected and then I can’t parent the way that I need to and I can’t be present and focused, then there’s gotta be one of us that can,” she continued. “And I had to save myself in order to be a better mom for everyone. And I think, like, when everyone’s older, they’ll be able to understand it and see that all.”
