Is anyone else scratching their heads about Kanye West and Kim Kardashian West lately?
On the one hand, the pop culture power couple still come across as two hot celebs with sexual chemistry making grand romantic gestures showing they’re still very much in love. They also have four great reasons to stay together in the beautiful, precocious children they’ve so successfully been raising.
Photo: Did North West Shade Daddy With Her Amazing Halloween Costume?
On the other, they seem to be growing apart *as people* more and more lately. Kanye is embracing his religion and leaning into willfully ignorant neo-conservative views, both of which seem to clash with his wife’s mostly progressive politics. Kim is moving from a career in beauty to a career in law. So much is changing for the couple…
We’ll break down the biggest possible points of friction — then you tell us if you think these are signs of an impending split!
POLITICS
As divided as the American populace is right now, it seems impossible for two people who disagree on politics to stay together. At this point everyone sees the other side as raving lunatics or scheming liars. But are Kimye really going the full George and Kellyanne Conway?
Kanye has definitely gone all in on neo-conservative talking points. He references the Republican party as having “freed the slaves” — ignoring that parties have changed over the past 150 years, and more recently they have been largely responsible for disenfranchising African American voters. Most recently they nominated a presidential candidate who ran on a platform of fomenting racism and xenophobia.
Speaking of which, Kanye has also loudly (and largely incomprehensibly) expressed his love for Donald Trump.
This certainly seems a far cry from Kim, who vocally supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. She cited the former Secretary of State’s push for sensible gun control reform and support of a woman’s right to choose as the main driving factors behind her endorsement.
However, she has also been open to working with the Trump White House in her newfound passion for prison reform. (And helping big celebs like Kim has apparently become disproportionately important to the former reality TV star-in-chief, too.)
Kim has continued to defend her husband’s erratic statements from critics, fighting off people for not letting him have his opinions based on just feelings and no real information. (Even though it was a fan sharing the story of Alice Marie Johnson with her that moved her to become interested in prison reform in the first place…) Mrs. West has even taken a shot at explaining Ye’s politics, saying in November 2018 the rapper likes Trump’s personality but not his policies.
So… is that really Kim accepting Kanye’s difference of opinion? Dismissing it as some kind of personality quirk? Is she just that patient — or being kind of condescending as one would do with a teenager going through a phase??
Or… is she secretly more #TeamTrump than she lets on…?
In any case, their politics have — against all odds — NOT seemed to cause that much of a problem between them.
RELIGION
Kanye has become a born again Christian over the past few months, creating his own Sunday Service in January 2019. We can only assume Kanye’s past experiences with church were not Kanye-centric enough for his liking, but the weekly musical celebration — which often includes gospel versions of old Ye tracks — has become a huge part of his life.
However, as he has dived more into his spiritual side, he has also gotten more puritanical. He blasted Kim for dressing in a way he has deemed too revealing, saying about her 2019 Met Gala outfit:
“It affects my soul when your pictures are too sexy.”
For reference:
To her credit, Kim stood up to her husband, saying:
“You built me up to be this sexy person and confidence and all this, and just because you’re on a journey and transformation doesn’t mean I’m in the same spot with you… That’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Seriously. Reminder, this is the man who made a music video in which his wife is riding on his motorcycle fully nude.
We mean, it’s still on his YouTube page.
We’re sure he would take such a sinful music video down… if his first commitment wasn’t to his revenue stream.
Considering Kim’s whole career has been based on beauty products and apparel which promise to accentuate sexiness, this seems like a big problem.
And it’s not just Kim being policed now.
In a recent interview the rapper revealed he has forbidden his daughter North from wearing makeup and crop tops, which Kim said has caused a “big fight” in the household. She told E! News in October:
“I think he had it, he changed all the rules… I’d let her wear, you know, she has a little red for Christmas, I’d let her wear a red lip, or I’d let her do one pop of something. I’d let her if she’s wearing a black dress, a black lip. I kind of got in trouble for that, too. So, it’s now no more makeup.”
She “got in trouble”?? That does not sound like healthy co-parenting to us.
It’s one thing for different faiths to coexist, it’s another for someone to be subjected to the rules they didn’t agree to.
In a 2013 study published by the National Institute of Health, “religious differences” were cited by about 33% of couples as a contributing factor to their divorce. So this new direction Kanye is headed is no small thing.
KIDS
Apart from that makeup kerfuffle Kimye have largely been great about coparenting.
During a recent episode of KUWTK, Kim gushed about what a good father Kanye was to North, Chicago, Saint, and Psalm, saying:
“Kanye knows that I’ve had such anxiety with the new baby and everything going on. He’s stepped up so much and has been the most amazing dad, playing all the games with the kids and things like that.”
That sounds amazing.
When it comes to their kids, the conflict seems to be less about childcare quality and more about child quantity.
Back in August, Kim said she was done having kids. When asked by a fan on Instagram, she wrote:
“I LOVE my babies so much but 4 is all I can handle with how busy I am, and each one of my babies needs so much attention.”
And a few weeks later she confirmed she was “definitely done” to E! News.
So there you have it. Absolutely capped. Four kids it is.
Except… Kanye had yet to weigh in.
See, just a few days after Kim’s declaration Yeezy made it perfectly clear he is NOT done having children and told James Corden he plans to have “seven kids” with Kim. He said:
“The richest thing that you can have is as many children as possible.”
That is definitely back to the religion. Not only is seven a recurring number in the Bible, there’s also a push to “be fruitful and multiply.”
Unfortunately there are also a great many men around the world who treat their wives’ wombs like their personal property to use as they wish. And frankly that is not the type of thing the Kim we know would stand for.
There’s patience and understanding — and then there’s submission and subservience. Letting someone control your life completely is a sign of the latter.
CAREER
A really big point for Kanye is how he’s responded to Kim’s change in career.
Recently Kim has been working towards getting her law degree after working with lawyers on prison reform.
A lot of couples end up splitting because of big life changes like this; people aren’t always comfortable with their partners transforming from the image they had of them when they got together. And Kim is definitely mid-transformation.
However, Kanye has actually been great about it. In one of the sweetest moments in KUWTK history, he gave a very uncertain Kim, worried about whether she’d be able to complete her studies and still spend enough time with him and the kids, a fantastic pep talk, telling her:
“I think you can get in control of your schedule and you’ve just got to sit back and analyze, like, what are your distractions? Once you manage your time, you’ll be able to manage your time to be able to give attention to me, attention to the kids and attention to law that you’re passionate about.”
He said also told her “the universe really wants this to happen.” Can you imagine having that confidence in your corner?
See the cute moment (below)!
I STILL DO…
One more point…
Back in May, the couple were confident enough in their marriage to do it all over again. For their fifth wedding anniversary, they renewed their vows in a super private ceremony we didn’t see any of until it partially aired on KUWTK.
Kim told Kanye in her new vows:
“You are my husband. You are my best friend. My biggest believer and my one true love.”
Awwwww. That doesn’t sound like a couple in trouble at all.
But a lot can change in just a few months. Or 72 days for that matter.
OK, so let us know, Perezcious relationship experts… what do YOU think will happen with Kimye??
[Image via WENN/Instar.]
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