February 20 – Kim Kardashian has filed for divorce from Kanye West, her representative confirmed Friday. The couple, who share four children, married in 2014, after two years of dating.
Rumors of Kardashian, 40, and West, 43, splitting up have circulated in recent weeks, following a tumultuous year for the couple. West announced on the Fourth of July that he intended to run for president, displaying erratic behavior at a campaign rally later that month and soon afterward on Twitter. He said Kardashian had been trying to get him medical attention, and that he intended to divorce her.
A representative for West hasn’t responded to The Washington Post’s request for comment.
Kardashian largely stayed silent on the matter of her husband’s mental health but spoke out via her Instagram Story later in July. She requested “compassion and empathy,” noting that family members can be “powerless” in their efforts to get help for someone who isn’t a minor.
“I understand Kanye is subject to criticism because he is a public figure and his actions at times can cause strong opinions and emotions,” she wrote. “He is a brilliant but complicated person who on top of the pressures of being an artist and a black man, who experienced the painful loss of his mother … has to deal with the pressure and isolation that is heightened by his bi-polar disorder.”
Kardashian and West were longtime friends before they began dating in 2012, soon after Kardashian separated from her second husband, former NBA player Kris Humphries. In 2015, the New York Times referred to the merging of their public personas — Kardashian’s reality television series and entrepreneurial efforts, along with West’s superstar career as a rapper and newfound designer — as a “historic blizzard of celebrity.” West was reluctant to appear on “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” at first, but took on a more prominent role several years into their marriage.
The Kardashian-Jenner family announced last fall that the reality series would be ending with the season that debuts next month, concluding a 14-year run that tracked their growth from cable TV stars to business moguls. They landed a multiyear deal with Hulu for projects that will begin airing later this year. (The Washington Post)
