Trying to make it work. Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have spoken candidly about coparenting since their February 2021 split — but it hasn’t always gone smoothly.
The reality star and the rapper, who tied the knot in 2014, share four children: North (born in June 2013), Saint (born in December 2015), Chicago (born in January 2018) and Psalm (born in May 2019).
Two months after the Skims cofounder filed for divorce, she and the Grammy winner both filed for joint custody of their brood. When they settled their split in November 2022, the former couple agreed to share legal and physical custody with “equal access” to the kids. The “Famous” artist will also pay Kardashian $200,000 a month for child support and is responsible for 50 percent of their children’s educational and security expenses.
“Kim wants her children to have a relationship with Kanye and wants Kanye in their lives as their father,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly after the duo settled their divorce. “Even though he and Kim are not seeing eye to eye, Kim would never want to try and stop Kanye from seeing his kids.”
While the duo’s split initially seemed amicable, tension escalated as West began publicly stating that he wanted the Hulu personality back and questioning her parenting skills in since-deleted Instagram posts. When the Chicago native claimed again in October 2022 that the Kardashian-Jenner family barred him from attending Chicago’s birthday party earlier in the year, Khloé Kardashian stepped in to defend her older sister.
“Ye, I love you. I don’t want to do this on social media but YOU keep bringing it here,” the Revenge Body alum commented on West’s since-deleted Instagram post. “You are the father of my nieces and nephews and I’m trying to be respectful but please STOP tearing Kimberly down and using our family when you want to deflect. Again with the birthday narrative. Enough already. We all know the truth and in my opinion, everyone’s tired of it.”
During a June 2022 appearance on Today With Hoda & Jenna, Kim said there were certain things she would never reveal about her marriage to West. “I think that there’s a lot that I share and there’s also a lot I don’t and I don’t think I ever will,” the Selfish author explained at the time. “People just go through things in relationships.”
The Keeping Up With the Kardashians alum added that social media isn’t always a good indicator of where things really stand in people’s lives. “Sometimes people post all the good things and that’s OK, like, that’s their picture and that’s their story and that’s their art that they want to put out,” the beauty mogul said. “But I don’t think everything is to be aired out. I don’t.”
Keep scrolling for everything Kim and West have said about coparenting since their split:
Trying to make it work. Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have spoken candidly about coparenting since their February 2021 split — but it hasn’t always gone smoothly.
The reality star and the rapper, who tied the knot in 2014, share four children: North (born in June 2013), Saint (born in December 2015), Chicago (born in January 2018) and Psalm (born in May 2019).
Two months after the Skims cofounder filed for divorce, she and the Grammy winner both filed for joint custody of their brood. When they settled their split in November 2022, the former couple agreed to share legal and physical custody with “equal access” to the kids. The “Famous” artist will also pay Kardashian $200,000 a month for child support and is responsible for 50 percent of their children’s educational and security expenses.
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“Kim wants her children to have a relationship with Kanye and wants Kanye in their lives as their father,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly after the duo settled their divorce. “Even though he and Kim are not seeing eye to eye, Kim would never want to try and stop Kanye from seeing his kids.”
While the duo’s split initially seemed amicable, tension escalated as West began publicly stating that he wanted the Hulu personality back and questioning her parenting skills in since-deleted Instagram posts. When the Chicago native claimed again in October 2022 that the Kardashian-Jenner family barred him from attending Chicago’s birthday party earlier in the year, Khloé Kardashian stepped in to defend her older sister.
“Ye, I love you. I don’t want to do this on social media but YOU keep bringing it here,” the Revenge Body alum commented on West’s since-deleted Instagram post. “You are the father of my nieces and nephews and I’m trying to be respectful but please STOP tearing Kimberly down and using our family when you want to deflect. Again with the birthday narrative. Enough already. We all know the truth and in my opinion, everyone’s tired of it.”
During a June 2022 appearance on Today With Hoda & Jenna, Kim said there were certain things she would never reveal about her marriage to West. “I think that there’s a lot that I share and there’s also a lot I don’t and I don’t think I ever will,” the Selfish author explained at the time. “People just go through things in relationships.”
The Keeping Up With the Kardashians alum added that social media isn’t always a good indicator of where things really stand in people’s lives. “Sometimes people post all the good things and that’s OK, like, that’s their picture and that’s their story and that’s their art that they want to put out,” the beauty mogul said. “But I don’t think everything is to be aired out. I don’t.”
Keep scrolling for everything Kim and West have said about coparenting since their split:
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November 2021
During an interview on the “Drink Champs” podcast, the Yeezy designer said he was hoping to rekindle his romance with Kim for the sake of their children. “SNL making my wife say ‘I divorced him’ on TV because they just wanted to get that bar off and I never have seen the papers. We’re not even divorced,” he claimed, referring to a line in Kim’s Saturday Night Live monologue the previous month. “So, how we — because [it’s] no joke to me, my kids want their parents to stay together. I want their parents — I want us to be together.”
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January 2022
West told Hollywood Unlocked‘s Jason Lee that he bought a home across the street from Kim so he would have easier access to his children. “My solace comes from seeing my kids and getting a solid schedule,” he explained. “That’s why I even got the house. [The media] flipped [it] into [saying that] there was something wrong with me getting a house next to my kids. … I’m gonna be so close, the kids are literally going to be in walking distance. I don’t play when it comes to my children.”
In the same interview, the “Jesus Walks” rapper accused Kim of “poking the bear” by allowing North to post TikTok videos against his wishes. “Don’t have my daughter wearing lipstick on TikTok — or don’t have her on TikTok at all — if I’m not there to approve that,” he said. “It was done without me knowing and it happened again.” He also claimed Kim hadn’t invited him to Chicago’s birthday party, though he later told fans he got in after Travis Scott texted him the address.
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February 2022
The drama over North’s TikTok account continued, with West posting a screenshot from one of the videos via Instagram and adding the caption: “SINCE THIS IS MY FIRST DIVORCE I NEED TO KNOW WHAT I SHOULD DO ABOUT MY DAUGHTER BEING PUT ON TIK TOK AGAINST MY WILL ?”
The Dancing With the Stars alum then made a rare public statement about the duo’s split, sharing a message via her Instagram Story. “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. 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 coparenting 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. I wish to handle all matters regarding out children privately and hopefully he can finally respond to the third attorney he has had in the last year to resolve any issues amicably.”
In a Vogue interview published that same month, Kim said that she tries to keep things civil with West for the kids. “You could be so hurt or angry at your ex, but I think in front of the kids, it always has to be ‘Your dad’s the best,’” she explained. “Make sure you are your coparent’s biggest cheerleader, no matter what you’re personally going through.”
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March 2022
Kim denied West’s claims that he was rarely “allowed” to see his children. “Please stop with this narrative, you were just here this morning picking up the kids for school,” she wrote via Instagram at the time.
Days later, she admitted that she tries to “ignore” negativity in her coparenting relationship. “I always saw such a good example in my mom [Kris Jenner] and dad [Robert Kardashian’s] relationship, so I’m always just hopeful,” she explained during an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. “No matter what goes on, that’s the father of my kids. I’ll always be protective. I always want my kids to see the best of the best as hard as it can be sometimes.”
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April 2022
After weeks of back-and-forth on social media, West’s rep told Us that “Ye is committed to a healthy coparenting relationship with Kim and is and focused on raising their beautiful children.”
That same week, Kim spoke out about the couple’s rapport during an interview with ABC News. “You want to take the high road and sometimes it’s hard,” she explained, adding that North and Saint “know what’s going on” between their parents. “I’ve always been a champion of him speaking his truth.”
She added: “You have to just be there for them. No matter what, even in this crazy life that we live, you just have to have a really open dialogue with your children. Kanye and I have had conversations. We have to talk daily for the kids, so you know, I hate that it had to play out like that. But when it comes to family, I mean, Kanye and I will always be family.”
In a separate interview on the “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast, the former Dash co-owner revealed that she and West didn’t speak for “about eight months” when they first split. “I mean, he would still see the kids and stuff,” she added. “Him and I just took a minute of not talking.”
West, for his part, seemingly addressed the drama in the song “Dreamin of the Past” with Pusha T, singing the lyric, “When Daddy’s not home, the family’s in danger.”
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May 2022
West made a cameo on an episode of The Kardashians when he came to get the children and take them to school. “We have kids involved. Kanye is here to pick up the kids,” Kim explained during an episode of The Kardashians. “I just woke up and the mornings that he takes them to school [are] kind of relieving for me because I get to do a little bit of work. We now trade off on who takes the kids to school in the morning.”
Days later, however, West addressed the arrangement in the song “True Love,” rapping the lines: “Wait, when you see the kids? I’ll see y’all tomorrow / Wait, when the sunset? I see y’all tomorrow / Wait, when I pick ’em up, I feel like they borrowed / When I gotta return them, scan ’em like a bar code.”
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June 2022
After West’s public attacks on Kim’s then-boyfriend, Pete Davidson, the Kardashians star publicly praised her ex-husband on Father’s Day. “Thank you for being the best dad to our babies and loving them the way you do,” she wrote via Instagram at the time. “Happy Father’s Day Ye.”
Later that month, the California native revealed that coparenting was “going good” with West. “We had Father’s Day at the house,” Kim said during an appearance on the Today show. “The kids spent the day with him and then we had a big Father’s Day dinner and North cooked.”
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September 2022
West again slammed Kim on social media, claiming that she was making decisions about their kids’ education without him. “This is co-parenting [sic],” he wrote via Instagram along with a screenshot of a text message that he implied was sent to Kim. In the text, he proposed that their four kids split their week between two different schools. “Here is the through line. Gap having meetings about me without me … me not having a say on where my children go to school. Call me whatever names you want. If you don’t understand why I will not back down on my businesses, my brands and my children then you’re the ones who are crazy.”
Days later, he claimed during an interview on the “Alo Mind Full” podcast that Kim had the kids “80 percent of time.” He then appeared on Good Morning America, where he apologized to his ex-wife while claiming that he still clashes with her over coparenting. “I do have a voice, but I had to fight for it,” he alleged. “That hurts you when you have to scream about what your kids are wearing. It was all a disregard for something I co-created. I co-created the children.”
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October 2022
During an interview with Tucker Carlson, West said he was upset that Kim wouldn’t let their kids attend his Donda Academy. “So, right now, we’ve come to a compromise, but I’m not finished, because I don’t compromise,” he claimed. “But we’ve come to a compromise where my kids go to my school after school, and they learn choir. I sat there with my son, and he came, and he said, ‘Why do I need to sing? I don’t even go to your school.’”
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December 2022
Kim broke down in tears while discussing her coparenting challenges with West in an interview on Angie Martinez‘s “IRL” podcast. “I definitely protected him, and I still will in the eyes of my kids. For my kids. So, in my home, my kids don’t know anything that goes on [in] the outside world,” she explained. “I am holding on by a thread. I know that I am so close to that not happening, but while it is still that way, I will protect that to the end of the Earth as long as I can. My kids don’t know anything. So, at school, some of my best friends are the teachers so I know what goes on at recess and lunchtime. I hear what is being talked about.”
