While co-parenting is hard after any split, Kim Kardashian has that and then some.
Ex-husband Kanye West, with his constant controversial and even harmful public statements on sensitive subjects adds a difficult dimension, she expressed in a recent interview.
This struggle, and its contrast with her happy memories of her own father, brought Kim Kardashian to tears as she opened up on the “Angie Martinez IRL” podcast about co-parenting her four children with West. She spoke about the extra measures she takes to shield her children — daughters North, 9, and Chicago, 5, as well as sons Saint, 7 and Psalm, 3 — from all the negativity.
The 42-year-old reality star and entrepreneur and the rapper, 45, finalized their divorce last month, ending their eight-year marriage. Throughout, he has courted controversy, even publicly denigrating Kardashian to a point that was widely seen as abusive by outside observers.
Kardashian described how and why she keeps the controversies from infiltrating their home.
“I definitely protected him — and I still will — in the eyes of my kids, for my kids,” Kardashian said. “So in my home, my kids don’t know anything that goes on in the outside world.”
She has managed to keep them off social media for the most part, and school personnel and teachers don’t bring it up either. It is akin to walking a tightrope, however.
“I’m holding on by a thread,” Kardashian said. “I know I’m so close to that not happening, but while it’s still that way, I will protect that to the end of the earth as long as I can.”
Her children do not yet have social media profiles, other than North’s TikTok account, which she accesses on Kardashian’s phone only, with supervision. When “stuff’s going down,” she said, she keeps the kids away from television and other content.
“That feels like it must be a full-time job,” Martinez commented.
“It is,” Kardashian said. “It is.”
Kardashian said it was worth it, even as she admitted wanting to “disassociate” from all things Kanye amid the split.
“It’s really f---ing hard,” she said, dabbing at her eyes. “If we’re riding to school, and they want to listen to their dad’s music, no matter what we’re going through and no matter what is happening in the world, I have to have that smile on my face and blast his music and sing along with my kids, and act like nothing’s wrong.”
What truly made Kardashian choke up was the contrast with her own memories.
“I had the best dad, and I have the best memories and the greatest experience. And that’s all I want for my kids as long as they can have that. That’s what I would want for them,” Kardashian said.
“So if they don’t know things that are being said, or what’s happening in the world, why would I ever bring that energy to them?” she continued. “That’s like real heavy, heavy grown-up s--- that they’re not ready to deal with. And when they are, we’ll have those conversations. And I’ll be so prepared.”
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