Kim Kardashian has had to walk a fine line between divorce and co-parenting.
Kardashian spoke candidly about her separation from Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, and the difficulties of co-parenting their four children: North, 9, Saint, 7, Chicago, 4, and Psalm, 3 during an appearance on Angie Martinez’s “Angie Martinez IRL” podcast, which was published Monday on YouTube.
“That will always follow me,” Kardashian said of the public debate over her divorce from Ye, which the couple announced in February 2021.
Martinez asked the Skims founder if it was a “conscious thing” for her to avoid publicly discussing her divorce and relationship with her children’s father in order to “protect” them.
“I definitely protected him, and I will continue to do so in the eyes of my kids and for my kids,” Kardashian responded, referring to shielding her children from what Ye has said about her on social media. “My children are unaware of what is going on in the outside world.”
“I’ve done it, and I’m hanging on by a thread,” she added. “I will defend it to the end of the earth for as long as I can.”
Earlier this year, Ye took to social media to lash out at Kardashian, her family, and her then-boyfriend Pete Davidson. He also complained about not being able to make major parenting decisions.
Kardashian explained on Monday’s podcast that her children “don’t know anything,” but because close friends of hers are teachers at their school, she is aware of “what goes on” and “what’s being talked about.”
“If we’re riding to school and they want to listen to their dad’s music, no matter what we’re going through, no matter what’s going on in the world, I have to smile and blast his music and sing along with my kids and act like nothing’s wrong,” she continued.
“I’ll have a good cry as soon as I drop them off.”
Kardashian, the daughter of divorced parents Kris Jenner and the late Robert Kardashian, cried as she recalled having “the best dad” growing up.
“I’m not trying to be emotional; it’s just been a day for me,” she explained. “You know, it’s difficult. Co-parenting is difficult. It’s extremely (expletive) difficult. But I had the best father, and I had the best memories and experience. That is all I want for my children. That’s all I’d want for them as long as they can have it.”
Kardashian and Ye reached a divorce settlement in November, averting a trial scheduled for this month. The former couple and their attorneys filed documents asking a judge to approve the terms they had agreed on, which included Ye paying Kardashian $200,000 per month in child support.
According to court documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, the two will also have joint custody and neither will pay the other spousal support. The settlement proposal also states that the two will split the costs of the children’s private security and private school, including college, equally.
According to the agreement, they will each pay their own debts. The couple had a pre-nuptial agreement and kept their assets mostly separate.
At Kardashian’s request, a judge declared the two legally single in March, ending their eight-year marriage, but property and custody issues remained, which were to be resolved in a trial beginning Dec. 14.
