Kim Kardashian is setting the record straight after ex-husband Kanye West previously accused her of keeping him from seeing their kids.
During the Thursday, October 23, episode of The Kardashians, Kim, 45, addressed the misconceptions about her coparenting relationship with Kanye, 48, with whom she shares North, 11, Saint, 8, Chicago, 6, and Psalm, 5.
“I feel more stressed probably just because I have to protect my kids. Everyone around can handle [the drama], but I want to protect my babies. They are going to know things. They’re going to grow up and see,” she noted. “So my job as a mom is to just make sure that at a time when that behavior is happening, is just to make sure that they are protected.”
Kim acknowledged that her children are getting to an age where they can see their father’s controversial behavior online and possible negative comments toward her, adding, “One of my kids knew what was happening. I’ve been able to hide it for so long.”
Everything Kim Kardashian and Kanye West Have Said About Coparenting
While reflecting on her current relationship with Kanye, Kim compared it to having “Stockholm syndrome.”
“I always felt really bad and always wanted to help. This was the first time I didn’t feel that responsibility personally,” she explained. “[People think] I should have stuck it out and I could have helped. As much as people think that I have the luxury of walking away and not dealing ever again, that’s not my reality. This person — we have four kids together.”
The former couple tied the knot in 2014 and were married for seven years before Kim filed for divorce in February 2021. The proceedings were finalized in November 2022.
“There will be all this talk on the internet about how I’m keeping the kids [from him]. He’s never once called and asked [to see them],” Kim claimed on Thursday. “But then I’ll wake up and it’s on Twitter that I’m keeping the kids. So when it’s not true and not rational, I can’t engage all the time.”
Kim pointed out that she’s given Kanye every opportunity to be present.
“It’s a divorce, not a kidnapping. We haven’t left. We’re in the same spot and we have the same address, so he knows where his kids are at,” she noted. “What happened to the house that you bought next door and we were going to coparent and do a back and forth where you take them to school every day?”
What Kim and Her Family Have Said About Kanye West on ‘The Kardashians’
She continued: “He [was going to have] dinner with us every night. Obviously, that just wasn’t what he wanted, and I get that. Maybe that’s too much. But that’s just what I saw from my mom, [Kris Jenner], and my stepdad, [Caitlyn Jenner], and my dad, [Robert Kardashian]. I just saw the best and healthiest coparenting relationships. So it is what it is.”
Kim said she wasn’t concerned with dwelling on the past, adding, “It’s over for now. So it’s like you breathe, and then you get antsy, because it’s been a little too quiet, so it’s gearing up. No, [he never apologized]. I’m not looking for it. I don’t care. It is so sad, but I can’t stress too much about that. I still have to worry about so many other things and I can’t be a mess and then have my kids see that. If they think I’m OK, then they’ll be strong too.”
The rapper previously weighed in on raising his kids with Kim shortly before finalizing their divorce.
“Even to this day, I’ll still give Kim advice on things that could help because that’s going to go to the kids,” he said on the “Alo Mind Full” podcast in September 2022. “She’s still got them 80 percent of the time, [to] raise those children. So what people saw when I was going back and forth is that I still have to be able to throw my version of what people would throw into the curriculum.”
Hulu releases new episodes of The Kardashians every Thursday.
