Kim Kardashian Opens Up About Divorcing Kanye West: ‘Had to Save Myself’

Kim Kardashian had no choice but to walk away from her “toxic” marriage to Kanye West. 

The SKIMS founder opened up about her troubled relationship with the rapper on the October 15 episode of Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast.

Kim Kardashian walked away from Kanye West marriage for her kids 

Kim said that when Kanye first started exhibiting serious mental health challenges, she tried to be there for him. But as his behavior became more erratic and he refused to make changes that she thought “would be super healthy and beneficial,” she realized she needed to protect herself so that she could be their for her and her husband’s four children. 

“People can say that there was, like, signs and maybe I didn’t wasn’t paying attention to them,” Kim said. “And I think when someone has, like, their first, like, mental break, you know, you wanna be super supportive and you wanna, like, help figure that out and you wanna really get into that with them and and be there for them.”

Unfortunately, Kanye’s choices made “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.”

Kim and Kanye share four children: North, 12, Saint, 9, Chicago, 7, and Psalm, 6. It was when Kim realized that her dysfunctional marriage was negatively affecting her ability to be a mother that she knew she had to make a major change.  

“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,” The Kardashians star said “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.” 

‘The Kardashians’ star didn’t feel ‘safe’ in her marriage to West 

Kim described her time with her ex-husband (whom she wed in 2014) as a rollercoaster. Before they split in 2021, she lived with constant uncertainty, she said. 

“I didn’t know what you’re gonna get when you wake up, and that’s like a really unsettling feeling,” she shared. 

The “Gold Digger” rapper’s critical comments about his mother-in-law and sisters-in-law upset Kim, as did his bizarre money moves.  

“Just not feeling safe, you know, not even physically, just like maybe emotionally or even, you know, financially,” Kim said. “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.”

Still, Kim said she is able to see the good that came out of her marriage.

“An over a decade relationship with four beautiful children is not a failure,” she said. 

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