How Kimye Fell From Grace
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West were once pop culture’s most powerful, iconic couple. But after 21 months of divorce chaos, that reputation lies in ruins.
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by Ellen DurneyBuzzFeed News Staff
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Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, who legally changed his name to Ye in August 2021, were once Hollywood’s most iconic power couple. After a bitter divorce battle spanning two years, countless social media fights, and an unexpected cast of supporting characters, that reputation lies in ruins. Here’s the definitive month-by-month breakdown of how we reached this point.
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The year started with a bang when Page Six broke the news on Jan. 5 of an “imminent” Kimye divorce.
It’s clear now that the relationship was unraveling privately for a while. Scenes from the final season of Keeping Up With the Kardashians — which were shot between November and December 2020, but didn’t air until months later — signaled that Kim was ready to split after a rough year where she and Ye lived predominantly in different states.
During an April 2022 interview on the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast, Kim also revealed that she and Ye went eight months without communicating after she ended the marriage. So as we progress, it’s worth bearing in mind that their relationship had effectively been over since at least late 2020 and that Kimye were not in a good place behind closed doors.
Maddie Abuyuan / BuzzFeed News; Kanye West via Twitter; Kim Kardashian via Instagram; E! Network
On Feb. 19, Kim officially filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences and seeking joint custody of their four kids: North, Saint, Chicago, and Psalm.
When the final season of KUWTK aired in March, Kim confirmed that Ye's increasingly erratic public behavior in 2020 — including calling her a “white supremacist” and revealing that they’d considered an abortion during her pregnancy with North — was the “final straw” in their relationship.
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In June, a new episode of KUWTK exposed more of Kimye’s marital struggles.
One scene filmed a month before she filed for divorce showed Kim breaking down in tears and telling Kris Jenner she felt “numb” and like a “failure.” She also revealed that she’d grown tired of the extravagant gestures that had defined their relationship.
In real time, however, Kim was attempting to keep things civil.
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On June 8, she wished Ye a happy birthday on Instagram, writing “Love U for Life” beside a photograph of them and the kids.
Meanwhile, Ye celebrated in the South of France with supermodel Irina Shayk. TMZ described the birthday rendezvous as a “rebound,” while a source told E! News that Kim was unfazed by the new relationship.
Interestingly, Ye concluded his birthday festivities by unfollowing Kim and her sisters on Twitter on or around June 12.
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After months of tension, things started looking up on July 17 when the estranged couple were seen together spending time with their kids for the first time since splitting.
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The outing marked the first in a series of joint appearances that summer as they teamed up to promote Ye's then–upcoming album, Donda.
Kim attended the first of three listening parties for the record on July 22 in a red Balenciaga outfit that matched Ye's.
During the event, Ye made it clear he was struggling with the split, falling to his knees and singing, “I’m losing my family, I’m losing my family,” while Kim and the kids watched from the crowd.
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In August, news broke that Ye and Irina had split, and rumors of a reconciliation between Kimye began to emerge.
At his second listening event on Aug. 5, Ye pleaded in one song for Kim to “come back” and hinted in another that she was “still in love” with him. Once again, Kim watched from the crowd with the kids, wearing a head-to-toe black Balenciaga outfit that mirrored Ye's.
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But the biggest indicator that the divorce might be off was when Kim wore a wedding dress to the final Donda listening party on Aug. 26.
Taking the stage for the final song of the night, Kim role-played walking down the aisle, and the pair left the event holding hands. According to TMZ, Kim happily wore the dress to support Ye’s vision, suggesting that the professional and creative bond they'd forged throughout their relationship was still going strong.
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Reconciliation reports extended into September, when fans began speculating that Kimye might make a red carpet comeback at the Met Gala in their matching Balenciaga looks.
Mike Coppola / Getty Images
For a brief moment, it seemed as though fans' dreams were coming true when Kim left her hotel with a masked man in a black hoodie. However, it was soon revealed that Kim's date wasn’t Ye, but Balenciaga designer Demna Gvasalia.
Despite the world speculating that she and Ye were back on, the Met actually marked her first major interaction with a certain Mr. Pete Davidson.
During her appearance on the NSBNF podcast in 2022, Kim revealed that Pete actually offered her his number at the Met but that she was unable to take it because her gloves stopped her from using her phone.
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Unfortunately for Kim, the latter half of September was rocked by claims that her ex-boyfriend Ray J was in possession of a second sex tape consisting of “unreleased and more graphic” content, which his former manager hoped to “gift” Ye. These claims were quickly refuted by her lawyer.
Kim and Ye finished the month on a high, stepping out for a low-key double date in Malibu with Kim’s friends on Sept. 30.
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Despite the promise of the summer months, October kicked off with confirmation that Kimye's divorce was still on. But the exes seemed civil, with reports claiming they were focused on co-parenting and remaining involved with each other’s work ventures — including Ye styling Kim.
Kim even enlisted Ye’s help with her Saturday Night Live hosting debut on Oct. 9, where he advised her on her performance and costumes for the show.
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In an episode of The Kardashians, which premiered in April 2022, we learned more about Ye’s support of Kim as she prepared for SNL. In one scene, Kim revealed that Ye “literally took a coach commercial flight [and] sat in the seat next to the bathroom” in order to make it to New York. But Kim did also clarify that she had set “serious boundaries” to keep their relationship strictly platonic while he was in town.
Another reason that Ye had seemingly been so eager to be there was because he had precious cargo in tow: the computer and hard drive containing the alleged second sex tape that Ray J’s former manager mentioned in September.
In the same Kardashians episode, we discovered that Ye had presented Kim with the hard drive — which he collected by hand from Ray J in LA — on the morning of the SNL taping. Kim and her inner circle were beside themselves with emotion as she informed them of Ye’s good deed.
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Kim’s SNL appearance boosted ratings and drew rave reviews for her brutal opening monologue, where she joked about everyone from OJ Simpson, to her sisters, and, of course, Ye.
“I married the best rapper of all time … a talented, legit genius, who gave me four incredible kids,” she said. “So when I divorced him, you have to know it came down to just one thing: his personality.”
Despite the joke attracting huge cheers from the crowd, Ye was less than pleased with the quip and stormed out of the audience.
And it’s safe to say that the night only got worse for him when Kim shared the stage with Pete Davidson.
NBC / Saturday Night Live
In what became arguably the most significant milestone in the entire divorce saga, Kim shared that she felt instant sparks between her and Pete after they kissed during an Aladdin sketch.
Reflecting on the moment six months later, Kim revealed that she felt an instant “zing” of attraction. And it wouldn’t be long before their romance flourished in full view — on Oct. 30, photographs emerged of Kim and Pete holding hands on a roller coaster at Knott’s Scary Farm in California.
Despite sources claiming that Kim and Pete were just friends, she later revealed that they'd already been on a series of private dates. She also admitted that they’d actually gone to great lengths to ensure they weren’t photographed at the theme park, calling the leak of the roller coaster snaps “shady.”
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Kim and Pete’s blossoming romance was a real turning point for Ye.
Despite earlier reports detailing their continued professional and personal collaborations, Ye appeared to stop styling Kim at some point in late October, which — given their shared love of fashion — was a major statement.
Gotham / GC Images
Kim later revealed on The Kardashians that her appearance at the WSJ Innovator Awards on Nov. 1 was the first time she’d worn a look that hadn't been “pre-vetted” by Ye — a transition she described as “psychologically hard.”
Sadly for Kim, Ye disapproved of the dress she’d chosen to wear and took it upon himself to inform her that she’d looked like Marge Simpson and that her career was over.
Ye may have stepped back as Kim’s stylist in response to her budding relationship with Pete, leaving her to fend for herself as punishment. However, it’s also possible that the decision to part ways creatively was Kim’s — especially if Ye's input was hampering the early stages of her new relationship. This theory would also account for Ye’s bitter response to her WSJ look.
But despite Ye’s harsh comments behind the scenes, publicly he was about to embark on a monthlong campaign to win Kim back.
This began on the Drink Champs podcast on Nov. 4, when he maintained that Kim was still his wife because he’d “never” seen the divorce papers. He also said it was wrong of Kim to say she'd divorced him during her SNL monologue, and that their kids wanted them to “stay together.”
Despite reportedly dating a model named Vinetria at the time, Ye doubled down on his hopes of a reconciliation with Kim on Nov. 24.
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“I’ve made mistakes. I’ve publicly done things that were not acceptable as a husband,” he said at a charity event in LA before declaring that God would reunite them.
One day later, Ye shared a “Thanksgiving Prayer” on Instagram. In it, he took “accountability” for the hurt he’d caused and said he wanted his family “back together.”
But Kim and Pete were growing more serious by the day. They celebrated his birthday with a pajama party at Kris Jenner’s Palm Springs home on Nov. 16, and they were confirmed to be an official couple by E! News three days later.
On the same day Ye dropped his “Thanksgiving Prayer,” Kim and North made waves online by launching a joint account on TikTok. The account reportedly amassed more than 130,000 followers and 430,000 likes in less than 24 hours.
Elsewhere on social media, Ye was making moves of his own. On Nov. 29 — after a month of declaring his love for Kim — he made a complete U-turn by wiping his entire Instagram account.
The surprise backstep felt to many like a reaction to the news of Virgil Abloh’s death one day earlier on Nov. 28.
Virgil was one of Ye’s closest friends and collaborators, and he even served as Ye’s best man at his and Kim’s wedding. For this reason, concern for Ye was high, and he remained fairly quiet for the next few weeks.
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On Dec. 7, Kim referenced Ye for the first time since his string of public statements in November, crediting him with “introducing” her to the “fashion world” while being crowned Fashion Icon of the Year at the People’s Choice Awards.
Two days later, Kim showed her support for Ye again at the “Free Larry Hoover” concert in LA.
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Ye took this opportunity to make yet another plea for Kim’s affection, this time directly referencing her in a revised rendition of his track “Runaway.” Addressing his ex from the stage, Ye altered the lyrics to say: “I need you to run right back to me / More specifically, Kimberly.”
The very next day, however, news broke that Kim had submitted a request to be declared “legally single.” In the filing, Kim said their marriage had “irretrievably” broken down, and that “no counseling or reconciliation” would help.
Interestingly, the docs also revealed that Ye was not cooperating legally, with Kim stating that he’d failed to respond to her numerous requests to “bifurcate and terminate [their] marital status.”
On Dec. 21, Page Six reported that Ye and Vinetria had split. Meanwhile, Kim spent most of the holidays with Pete in NYC, where they enjoyed a number of low-key dinner dates.
And, following Kim’s motion to speed up their divorce, Ye spent most of the festive period partying with various women in Houston and Florida. This is where actor Julia Fox enters the chat.
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On Jan. 1, Ye and Julia were spotted on an intimate dinner date in Miami. Within a day, they’d relocated to NYC for more dates before being declared “kindred spirits” by Page Six.
Marc Piasecki / GC Images
On Jan. 6, Julia shared photos from their dates in a gushing post for Interview magazine where she also revealed that Ye had surprised her with an entire hotel suite filled with clothes — a move eerily reminiscent of his romantic gestures with Kim.
Around the same time — and in stark contrast to the highly publicized nature of Ye and Julia’s relationship — Kim was enjoying a low-key getaway to the Bahamas with Pete.
But just as we thought both parties were finally moving on, Kim and Ye ended up at loggerheads again on Jan. 15 after he accused her of not inviting him to their daughter Chicago's fourth birthday party.
Ye shared a series of videos showing him driving around Calabasas in search of the party because he “wasn’t allowed” to know the location. A few hours later, Ye uploaded a subsequent video thanking Travis Scott for giving him the address and Kylie Jenner for letting him onto the premises.
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Kim was left blindsided by Ye’s actions — particularly his decision to publicly air the dispute on Instagram. And the situation was just as confusing for fans, who’d assumed that their co-parenting relationship was civil up until this stage.
Ye went on to claim during an interview with Hollywood Unlocked that he was being prevented from seeing his children, and that he was once refused entry into Kim's home because Pete was inside — something Kim’s team immediately refuted.
This interview dropped shortly after Ye released his song with The Game, “Eazy,” where he publicly dragged Pete and threatened to “beat [his] ass.”
And while sources claimed at the time that Kim had chosen “not to engage” publicly with Ye in order to protect their kids, she’d soon break her silence.
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After Chicago’s birthday drama, the Hollywood Unlocked interview, and those “Eazy” lyrics, Ye shared an Instagram post slamming Kim for allowing North to use TikTok on Feb. 4.
Fans had been theorizing for weeks that Ye had shifted his online presence from Twitter to Instagram in a calculated move to maximize his exposure to Kim, her family, and their fans, who predominantly use this platform. And if that was Ye’s intention, he was successful. The Instagram post proved to be the final straw for Kim, who made the deeply uncharacteristic decision to speak out against her ex in an impassioned statement.
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Marking the first time she’d addressed Ye’s behavior since he started discussing their divorce publicly in November, Kim wrote that his “obsession with trying to control and manipulate our situation so negatively and publicly is only causing further pain for all.” She added that his behavior was making it “impossible” to maintain a “healthy and supportive co-parenting relationship.”
Kim’s statement came as a shock to fans, not only because her support for Ye had been so unwavering, but also because it’s highly unusual for the Kardashians to respond to public controversies — particularly when it involves the fathers of their children.
In fact, Kim hadn’t issued a statement about Ye — who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2016 — since 2020, amid growing concern for his mental health. At the time, Ye had made numerous shocking comments about Kim and their family that we now know were the catalyst for their split. But back then, Kim defended her husband and asked the public to show “compassion and empathy.”
Things this time were less civil, however, and Ye responded to Kim’s statement with more heated posts.
He began by accusing Kim of trying to “kid nap” Chicago, then bashed her inner circle, referring to the KarJenner family as a “unit” who “play with Black [men’s] lives.”
On Feb. 6, Ye wiped his Instagram account again, only to resume his constant posting just a day later. With a clean slate, he returned to addressing the Chicago birthday dispute and demanded a public apology from “the entire family.”
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Soon after, he shared a screenshot of a text exchange between himself and an unspecified person where he asked for an apology yet again, before tagging all the KarJenners. However, as is a common occurrence when it comes to Ye’s social media, he quickly deleted all the posts.
Despite his Instagram activity, Ye and Julia were still together. When asked in an interview on Feb. 9 about Ye’s public attempts to gain Kim’s attention, Julia responded: “I also know that he’s with me now. And that’s all that matters.”
But that very same day, Ye shifted gears again, going back to declaring his love for Kim — an outburst seemingly prompted by the release of her Vogue cover, also on Feb. 9. Ye posted a collage of images from the shoot and begged God to reunite his family. This post remained on his account even after other content was wiped.
Over the next few days, Ye took repeated aim at Pete, sparking accusations of harassment. He also declared his friendship with Kid Cudi over because of his links to “you know who,” proceeding to share a number of memes and fan edits mocking Pete, who he began referring to as “Skete.”
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Ye then leaked a text exchange between himself and Pete where he insisted the comedian would “never” meet his children. Ye also accused Pete of “destroying” his family, and urged fans to “scream kimye forever” at Pete if they saw him in public.
By Feb. 13, Ye’s online behavior had sparked such confusion that he resorted to uploading a photograph of himself holding a sign saying, “my account is not hacked,” to prove he was responsible for the posts.
News of Ye and Julia’s split emerged on Valentine’s Day, with insiders speculating that he’d already moved on with Instagram model Chaney Jones.
Meanwhile, Kim and Pete’s romantic dinner in Brooklyn was thwarted by Ye continuing to share posts seemingly threatening Pete with physical violence.
Ye first shared a text from Kim in which she expressed concern for Pete's safety and urged him to stop speaking publicly about their relationship.
“UPON MY WIFE’S REQUEST PLEASE NOBODY DO ANYTHING PHYSICAL TO SKETE,” he wrote alongside the messages, before reassuring fans that he’d “handle the situation” himself.
Instagram: @kanyewest
Making matters worse, Ye uploaded a subsequent message exchange between him and Kim where she asked why he kept sharing their private texts. In response, Ye wrote: “I’m your number one fan. Why wouldn’t I tell everyone!!!”
In the wake of the backlash, Ye issued an apology on Feb. 15, “taking accountability” for his harassment of Kim and Pete.
“I’m working on my communication. I can benefit from a team of creative professionals, organizers, mobilizers and community leaders,” it read.
However, the difference in tone between this message and his previous posts immediately sparked speculation that it had been written and uploaded by a member of his team as damage control.
This belief was only bolstered hours later when Ye returned to posting in his typical all-caps style, starting with a cryptic picture of a road sign that read: “STOP TELLING FATHERS THEY SHOULD HAVE FOUGHT HARDER TO SEE THEIR CHILDREN & START ASKING MOTHERS WHY HE HAD TO FIGHT AT ALL.” This was presumably a callback to the co-parenting issues he raised during his Hollywood Unlocked interview in January.
And just when we thought things couldn’t get any more surprising, Pete — who had been deliberately absent from social media since 2018 — suddenly joined Instagram.
Instagram: @pmd
Ye was among the first to follow Pete’s new account, screenshotting the feat and sharing it with his fans in celebration. Unsurprisingly, Pete did not return the gesture, instead only following Kim and, somewhat bizarrely, the actor Sebastian Stan.
On Feb. 17, fans noticed for the first time that Kim had officially unfollowed Ye on Instagram. This came shortly after Ye issued yet another scathing post about Pete, highlighting an SNL bit where he wore a hat that read: “Make Kanye 2006 Again.” Alongside a video of the 2018 segment, Ye wrote: “This is not harassment This is payback.”
Kim’s move to unfollow Ye coincided with him once again wiping his Instagram account and deleting all posts about the couple from his page. The very next day, on Feb. 18, E! News reported that Ye’s legal team had filed a motion to deny Kim’s request to be declared legally single.
Pete finally shared his first Instagram post on Feb. 23. But within minutes, Ye’s fans had flooded the comments section with hate, and his account was deleted shortly after.
Ye was made aware of Pete’s departure from Instagram by a BuzzFeed News article, which he screenshotted and posted to his Instagram account, bragging about “running” him off the platform.
Maddie Abuyuan / BuzzFeed News; Variety via Youtube; Kim Kardashian via Instagram; Chaney Jones via Instagram; Kanye West via Instagram; @DaveSirus via Twitter; Screenshot via BuzzFeed News
March began with official confirmation of Ye’s relationship with Chaney Jones, as well as the news that he’d finally instructed his lawyers to speed the divorce process up. On March 2 — over a year since their split — Kim and Ye were both declared legally single.
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Make no mistake, though: This didn’t mean the divorce was finished, and neither was the feuding.
The day after the termination of their marriage, Ye released a video for “Eazy,” which, as you might remember, name-dropped Pete in threatening lyrics.
The visual depicted a claymation version of Ye kidnapping and decapitating Pete, sparking immediate concern among viewers. Some people even urged the SNL star to take legal action against Ye.
Kim stayed silent on the matter but subtly made her feelings known by liking a tweet calling Pete a “generous, tender & funny spirit” who treats “everyone around him with respect.”
Kim then spent the majority of the month promoting the premiere of The Kardashians. This started with an interview with Variety that led to intense backlash after she said women in business should get their asses up and work.
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Luckily — or perhaps even deliberately — the backlash was quickly overshadowed by a moment fans had been waiting for for months: Pete’s first appearance on Kim’s Instagram.
On March 11, Kim shared a series of photographs of her and Pete taken around the time of their Valentine’s Day trip to NYC — the exact same time Ye first started dragging them on social media.
Perhaps in response to the post, Ye began publicly lambasting Kim again later that day, this time sharing their text conversations relating to a private dispute about the kids.
Ye told his followers that while he’d wanted to defend Kim amid the Variety backlash, he was glad that the viral moment showed fans what he’d had to “deal with” privately. He accused Kim of “antagonizing” him over North’s TikTok use.
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The posts proved to be the final straw for Pete, who finally decided to publicly air his grievances by sharing a screenshot of a text exchange between him and Ye via his close friend’s Instagram account.
In the conversation, Pete defended Kim and offered to meet with Ye to discuss their issues privately.
“Kim is literally the best mother I’ve ever met,” Pete wrote. “What she does for those kids is amazing and you are so fucking lucky that she’s your kids’ mom. I’ve decided I’m not gonna let you treat us this way anymore and I’m done being quiet.”
When Ye replied asking where Pete was, he responded with a photo of himself shirtless holding up a peace sign alongside the message: “In bed with your wife.”
Elsewhere in the leaked messages, Pete revealed he’d deterred SNL writers and fellow comedians from making jokes at Ye’s expense for the sake of Kim and their kids.
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“I’ve stopped stand up comedians from doing bits about you cause I don’t want the father of my girls kids to look bad out there. I have your back even though you treat me like shit,” he wrote.
The post was soon deleted, but Ye responded accusing Pete of “bragging” and “antagonizing” him before seemingly threatening the friend who’d shared the post.
A week later, Kim was forced to address the incident during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where she received praise for discussing Ye’s behavior with sensitivity and compassion. “No matter what goes on, it’s the father of my kids — I’ll always be protective,” she said.
The next day, Ye’s social media use was hampered after he was banned from Instagram for 24 hours for violating its bullying and hate speech policies with a racial slur against Trevor Noah. Confirmation soon came that he would no longer be performing at the Grammys due to his “concerning” posts.
Surprisingly, though, Kim and Ye were photographed together at the end of the month looking relatively civil at their son Saint’s soccer game.
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Ye’s social media silence extended into April, with Page Six reporting he was “going away to get help.”
Kim and Pete, however, seemed closer than ever. In fact, it became clear that Pete had been spending time with her kids after he was filmed riding an electric car with North on April 5. Fans were concerned the footage would trigger a response from Ye, but he remained silent while seeking “behavioral treatment.”
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Kim went on to discuss the divorce in a series of interviews. During an appearance on Good Morning America, she said she would always take the “high road” despite Ye’s public attacks. She also discussed having “open and honest” conversations with her older kids, revealing that North and Saint were aware of the split.
But in the previously mentioned NSBNF podcast interview on April 9, Kim confirmed that while she hoped to be on speaking terms with Ye in the future, they weren’t currently communicating due to his recent social media outbursts.
Continuing to focus on the present, Kim made her highly anticipated red carpet debut with Pete on April 30, where the pair stole the show at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. The outing served as a perfect practice run for an even more iconic red carpet event just days later.
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With the first Monday in May on the horizon — and Pete rocking a telling spray tan — suspicions were high that he and Kim would walk the Met Gala red carpet together.
Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images
In case you aren’t familiar, the Met is undoubtedly the most prestigious celebrity event of the year — especially for Kim, who has established herself as one of its standout guests since her controversial debut as Ye’s plus-one in 2013.
And in a move that would have been impossible to predict all those years ago, Kim arrived at the 2022 Met Gala arm in arm with Pete, dressed in a multimillion-dollar gown previously worn by Marilyn Monroe.
Kim's decision to have Pete by her side during a monumental fashion moment, and at an event she holds in such high regard, spoke volumes about just how seriously she viewed their relationship.
Mike Coppola / Getty Images
Meanwhile, Pete reflected publicly on the relationship during a Netflix comedy special on May 6. While Kim reportedly looked on from the audience, Pete delivered a set packed with jokes about Ye, including the report that he’d spread rumors about Pete having AIDS. Pete added that his year so far had been nothing short of bizarre.
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Nearly two months after he was seen with North, Pete was spotted with Saint West at the Cheesecake Factory on June 4.
The footage sparked more speculation about how Ye was feeling, especially when one of his collaborators revealed the rapper was “battling his own shit” and planned to take “a year off.”
Ronald Martinez / Getty Images
Rumors of a Ye and Chaney split then began swirling around the time of his 45th birthday on June 8. Chaney was quick to refute this by publicly wishing Ye a happy birthday and pointedly asking fans not to spread fake news. But in spite of her denials, it does seem that the pair called it quits at around this time.
Unlike Chaney, Kim decided to remain silent and made no public acknowledgment of Ye’s birthday for the first time in over a decade.
A source confirmed that tension between them was high, with Ye feeling “heartbroken” over the divorce and finding the budding relationship between Pete and his kids “deeply unsettling.”
We also got a little more insight into how Kim was feeling in the Kardashians season finale on June 16, when she hinted that their marriage had been more turbulent than the public was aware of.
“If people knew what my relationship really was like, I think they would be like, ‘How did this last this long?’” Kim said in a scene that was filmed in January.
Nbc / Nathan Congleton / NBC via Getty Images
But as June progressed, Kimye seemingly attempted to put their issues aside for the sake of their kids.
On June 17, they attended North’s basketball game together. Days later, they spent Father’s Day weekend as a family. And despite failing to acknowledge his birthday weeks earlier, Kim did share a Father’s Day tribute calling Ye “the best dad,” perhaps indicating that their relationship was strictly limited to co-parenting matters.
Reports soon emerged that the pair were finally making “game-changing” progress — something Kim corroborated during a promotional interview for her new skincare line on June 21. She told the Today show that “everything” was “going good” between her and Ye, before crediting him with helping her to create the brand.
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Fans were treated to a trailer for The Kardashians Season 2 on July 11 that confirmed that Pete would be appearing on the show. But despite the cameras rolling at the height of Kimye’s feud in February and March, there was very little indication that this would be covered. However, given Kim’s protectiveness of Ye and their kids, it makes sense that she may have opted to preserve some privacy.
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Pete, however, wasn’t holding back at all. He revealed in an interview released on July 12 that it was his “dream” to have kids. This naturally sparked frenzied speculation that he and Kim were planning to have children together.
But the likelihood of a Kete baby was unlikely given that Pete was actually shooting a movie in Australia, meaning he and Kim had been apart for four weeks by the time she landed Down Under on July 16.
In spite of the long journey, Kim was actually only in the country for “a few days” and wasn’t photographed at all during the trip. Some fans questioned whether the low-key visit signaled relationship issues. Others suggested that the pair were simply keen to spend private quality time together after being apart.
Twitter: @KimKardashian
Back in the US, Ye made a surprise appearance at the Rolling Loud festival in Miami, where he turned heads in black body paint and futuristic Yeezy glasses.
After landing back home, Kim took North and Chicago on a trip to Ye’s Yeezy workshop. On July 29, she tweeted a batch of photographs from their girls’ day, including some snaps of North working on her very own Yeezy sketches.
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August began with more hope that Kimye had found harmony when Kim shared photos of herself in an Incredibles T-shirt, which many took as a nod to Ye.
instagram.com
For those less familiar with the intricacies of the Kardashian Cinematic Universe, on the one and only occasion that Ye sat down for a confessional interview on KUWTK, he famously compared his family to the fictional superheroes, saying: “I just see our life becoming more and more and more like The Incredibles until we can finally fly.”
Days later, Kim shared more photos from her visit to the Yeezy workshop, this time showing her repping the exact same pair of shades Ye had worn at Rolling Loud. This marked the first time that Kim — who is a part owner of Yeezy — had publicly worn the brand since their feuding began. And if there’s one thing we thought we knew about this divorce saga, it’s that a matching fashion moment often indicates calm waters.
On this occasion, this was not the case.
On Aug. 5, it was reported that Ye’s fifth divorce lawyer had quit. On the same day, Kim’s attorney Laura Wasser told the judge that Ye’s lack of cooperation was preventing them from finalizing the divorce. While Kim’s preliminary financial disclosures were filed back in November, Ye’s were yet to be submitted.
Stefani Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images
Hours later, the internet was ablaze with reports that Kim and Pete had broken up after nine months. Sources blamed long distance and demanding work schedules for the split, and fans quickly wondered whether Kim’s Australia trip was the moment she and Pete ended things.
Ye wasted little time before jumping onto Instagram to acknowledge the breakup, posting a photoshopped New York Times headline that read “SKETE DAVIDSON DEAD AT AGE 28” — a callback to their feud and the violent themes referenced in the “Eazy” music video.
instagram: @kanyewest
The image was deleted after four hours, coinciding with worrying reports that Pete had been seeking “trauma therapy” since April, “in large part” due to Ye’s “threatening posts.”
Then came reports that Pete would “barely” appear in Season 2 of The Kardashians as a result of the split. The implication that his scenes were cut led to some speculation that it wasn’t an amicable breakup, although it’s worth noting that the extent of Pete’s involvement in the show had always been uncertain. Still, the reports appeared to check out when a new trailer arrived on Aug. 29, bearing no mention of Ye or Pete.
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On Sept. 1, Ye shared a slew of posts once again criticizing Kim’s parenting.
instagram: @kanyewest
After expressing frustrations about his lack of “control” over their kids’ schooling, Ye shared texts from Kim in which she could be seen asking him to stop airing their private business.
He then expressed concern about the sexualization of his daughters and the possibility that they’d be “made” by Kris Jenner to participate in Playboy photo shoots and sex tapes in the way he claimed Kim was.
“Pornography destroyed my family,” he wrote. “I deal with the addiction. Instagram promotes it. Not gonna let it happen to Northy and Chicago.”
Instagram: @kanyewest
Ye followed this up with yet another screenshot of a text from Kim, sent on behalf of Kris, where she begged him to “stop mentioning” her name. He then mocked Pete’s tribute tattoo to Kim and her kids, claiming the comedian was a “pawn” sent to “antagonize” him “in hopes that he does something illegal.”
Ye’s posts continued into the following week, only to be somewhat halted by Queen Elizabeth II’s death on Sept. 8. Her death appeared to remind Ye that life was “precious,” and he said he was releasing “all grudges.”
Ye also seemed in good spirits while attending Vogue World — the magazine’s New York Fashion Week runway extravaganza — a few days later on Sept. 12. Kendall Jenner and Kourtney Kardashian were also in attendance, though it seems they didn’t cross paths.
Michael Buckner / Variety via Getty Images
On the very same night, Pete resurfaced to present an award at the Emmys, somewhat bizarrely appearing to sport the exact same ensemble that Ye wore alongside Kim at the 2019 Met Gala. Whether the outfit choice was intentional remains unclear.
As for Kim, she revealed that dating was the last thing on her mind during an appearance on The Late Late Show on Sept. 14, but she said she would be reevaluating her taste in men when the time came.
“Clearly it’s not working, whatever I’m doing,” she said. “I don’t know, maybe [I should go to a] hospital and meet a doctor? A law firm? I think it’s gonna be like, a scientist, neuroscientist, biochemist, doctor, attorney. That’s maybe what I envision in the future.”
Making another timely reference to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Ye expressed empathy for the British public by writing on his Instagram story on Sept. 25: “LONDON I KNOW HOW YOU FEEL I LOST MY QUEEN TOO.”
Some fans made the assumption that this was a reference to his divorce from Kim. However, the general consensus among most was that the “Queen” in question was his mother, Donda West, who died in 2007.
Instagram: @kanyewest
Three days later, Ye followed up with yet another eyebrow-raising social media statement, spontaneously switching out his all-black Instagram icon for a photo of Kris Jenner — instantly recognizable as the same one she uses on her own account.
To many, it felt obvious that Ye was attempting to troll his former mother-in-law with the move, though he later made it clear that this was not his intention.
“I POSTED KRIS WITH THOUGHTS OF PEACE AND RESPECT,” he told his followers a few hours later. “LETS CHANGE THE NARRATIVE.”
Mike Coppola / Getty Images
On Dec. 14, Kim and Ye will enter a two-day trial hearing in a bid to finalize their divorce. According to Rolling Stone, this trial will go ahead regardless of Ye’s cooperation. It will also signal the end of one of the messiest splits in recent pop culture history. But it remains to be seen whether the former power couple can ever fully recover from the two years of chaos.
Header illustration credits: Maddie Abuyuan / BuzzFeed News; Victor Boyko / Stringer via Getty Images; The Game via Youtube; Kanye West via Twitter; Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images; @DaveSirus via Twitter; Kim Kardashian via Twitter; Taylor Hill / Getty Images; Kanye West via Instagram; Kim Kardashian via Instagram; Michael Tran Archive / Getty Images; Shannon Finney / Stringer via Getty Images
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Topics in this article
Kanye WestKim KardashianPete DavidsonEllen DurneyBuzzFeed News Staff
Ellen Durney is a Celebrity News Fellow for BuzzFeed News and is based in London.
Contact Ellen Durney at ellen.durney@buzzfeed.com.
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