Kim Kardashian and Kanye West: set for divorce

By Nehru Odeh

It was a marriage, as they say, made in heaven. Kim Kardashian and Kanye West were the hottest couple in Hollywood, after their lavish wedding in Italy in 2014.

But slowly their marriage started grinding to a halt, no thanks to Irreconcilable differences. And on 19 February Kardashian filed for divorce, stating the same reason.

However, the 40-year-old revealed recently while speaking with her mother, Kris Jenner on the reality TV show, Keeping Up With The Kardashians (KUWTK) that not only was he lonely her crave for happiness was the real reasons she filed for divorce.

Still, their marriage didn’t crash suddenly. It was a gradual free fall, a slow decline in affection. Here are some of the bumps that led to the collapse of their marriage that are in the public eye.

One was when West dropped a bombshell, declaring on TMZ Live that “slavery was a choice.”  That comment not only unnerved Kardashian, caused universal outrage but had an untold effect on their relationship and put their marriage on the brink. Kardashian would later confess on one of the episode of KUWTK that she “cried and fought” with West for a week over the comment.

In that same episode, Kardashian detailed that she had an argument with West over two issues – First was her refusal to post six images he wanted on her Instagram and the other was after he demanded she found him a Band-Aid rather than spend time with their son.

And a year later things worsened when both couple openly argued on camera. The fight occurred the night before the 2019 Met Gala when West declared Kardashian’s dress “too revealing” and said his “soul and spirit” were being affected by her “showing her body off.

“You are my wife, and it affects me when pictures are too sexy,” West told her.

“You’re giving me really bad anxiety,” Kardadashian shot back. “You built me up to be this sexy person and have confidence. Just because you’re on your journey and you’re on a transformation doesn’t mean that I’m in the same spot as you.”

West swiftly left the room, with Kardashian shouting that he was “being absolutely ridiculous,” as the door slammed behind him.

Still, it is ironical that West’s obsession with Kardashian’s body and sexuality was what actually drew him to her and a fundamental part of their relationship — he repeatedly described her as his “dream girl” and likened her body to “art.” Yet he turned around to criticize what actually drew him to her.

And, through West’s compliments and encouragement, Kardashian learned to embrace her body and grew confident enough to pose nude on her own terms. She of course found West’s volte face and unfriendly disposition to her sexuality strange and stifling.

That Met Gala argument highlighted the extent to which both couple had grown apart; their initial bond was now a source of conflict.

West’s newfound religious stance, which Kardashian acknowledged by her reference to his “journey” and “transformation,” had also driven a wedge between them.

While West had re-evaluated his opinions on overt displays of sexuality, premarital sex, and abortion, Kim was posing nude and promoting Planned Parenthood.

Their values no longer aligned, and West’s new interest in evangelism would ultimately lead to his comments about aborting North — the “final straw” for K ardashian who was left “shocked beyond words” by the outburst.

Though the couple may have welcomed their fourth child a week after the Met Gala,  they grew increasingly estranged over the next six months. The last straw  was when Kanye bought a Wyoming ranch and relocated there in 2019. And Kardashian then knew what it meant to be lonely and unhappy.

Kardashian referred to that relocation as a major reason why their relationship collapsed because she later felt lonely and unhappy.

They isolated separately throughout the coronavirus pandemic and failed to spend either Thanksgiving or Christmas together. And on 19 Febuary Kim made the separation permanent by filing for divorce.

She said: “I never thought I was lonely, and I always thought that’s totally fine, I can just have my kids, my husband moves from state to state and I’m on this ride with him and I was OK with that.

“And then after turning 40 this year I realised, no, I don’t want a husband that lives in a completely different state to me. I thought, ‘oh my God, that’s when we’re getting along the best’.

“But that is sad to me and that’s not what I want. I want someone that we have the same shows in common, I want someone that wants to work out with me.”

Still, who that guy would be remains shrouded in mystery and the globe can’t wait for Kim K, as she is popularly called, to unveil him.