Like many of us, Kim Kardashian West and her husband Kanye West have been spending tons of extra time together. And, also like many of us, it sounds like the two aren't quite used to being so close.
Throughout this period of social distancing, the celebrity couple has been chased by rumors that they are separating or even divorcing. Now it seems that at least parts of those rumors may be true.
A friend has reportedly told The Sun:
“Things are tough between Kim and Kanye because they never normally spend this much time together, but she doesn’t want a divorce. She considers her marriage to Kanye and their family together a huge success — she’s the only sister who is married and thinks of herself and Kanye as a power couple. The last thing she wants is a divorce — especially because the public backlash after her second divorce was unbearable. What I think will happen is they’ll spend time apart in different houses — but not divorce.”
In May, sources close to the couple explained that Kim has been frustrated with Kanye because she "thinks he's not pulling his weight in family responsibilities." The same source also reported that the two had been staying at opposite ends of their home to keep things civil, and they had each been spending time with their four children.
Fans of the couple began speculating about their marriage back in April. Hot97 wrote that "Kim says that all of the parenting falls on her while Kanye focuses on his creativity. Kanye, who was recognized by Forbes as a billionaire recently, hasn't publicly addressed his wife as of right now."
Kim and Kanye recently celebrated their sixth wedding anniversary, and I think anyone who has been in a long-term relationship can understand that having four kids in six years of marriage while juggling multiple global brands and coping with a worldwide health crisis and the ongoing protests about racial injustice would be a lot for anyone. Kim and Kanye definitely are exempt from being human.
But as they are highly public celebrities who tend to share a lot of their lives online and in the family's show Keeping Up With the Kardashians, a lot of people are frankly curious about what's really going on behind closed doors. Kim and Kanye have always demonstrated a real love for one another, and it's likely this is a rough patch that's just heightened right now.
In April, Kanye reportedly took the children to Wyoming so that Kim could "get a break." People reported that the pair were taking turns with the kids, and "Kanye escapes to his office for a work break. He also let Kim have a break last week when he took some of the kids to Wyoming. They have been taking turns caring for the kids."
The family owns at least two properties in Cody, Wyoming, and appears to spend quite a bit of time there. Kanye and Kim bought the 4,000-acre ranches last year, and Kanye reportedly plans to build something "the size of a spaceship" on at least one of them. Kanye has also spoken about wanting to build dome houses in Wyoming.
He explained to People that the second property will be used to host performances from his Sunday Service Choir. "We see 100,000 students singing these compositions. A circular 100,000-person amphitheater."
So far, Kanye hasn't made a lot of significant changes to either property.
Kim and Kanye got married on May 24, 2014, and even for a celebrity wedding, theirs was a showstopper. The pair invited their guests to Paris to celebrate, and then surprised them all by ferrying everyone to Italy and getting married there instead.
Their engagement was similarly gigantic. On October 21, 2013, Kanye orchestrated a massive surprise at San Francisco's AT&T baseball stadium, which he rented out for the proposal.
Kim and Kanye actually first met in 2004 but didn't begin dating until 2012. In the intervening years, they had other relationships, and Kim had two fairly notorious marriages. They were steady friends the entire time, and that friendship is what brought them together when they were both single at the same time.
Kanye has said that they were working on a skit together and he knew she was the one. "We were doing this skit where I was playing, like, a Star Wars character and I wanted her to be Princess Leia because she was my dream girl."
The two met up again at Fashion Week 2009, but Kim was dating Reggie Bush at the time.
The friends kept bumping into one another, though. Kanye was at Kim's 30th birthday, but she was dating a football player at the time. In 2011, he helped direct the music video for her song "Jam (Turn It Up)." Shortly after, Kim married basketball player Kris Humphries. The marriage notoriously lasted only 90 days, and Kim experienced the backlash that is referenced above.
In 2012, both Kim and Kanye confirmed that they were dating. They also announced that Kim was pregnant with their first child, daughter North, in December of the same year.
Since then, Kim and Kanye have welcomed three additional children: Saint, Chicago, and Psalm.
