ALL EYES ON KIMYE SPLIT OVER FORTUNE OF BILLIONS
Kim and Kanye set to have an amicable divorce thanks to detailed prenup, says Patrick Sawer
IN THE world of celebrity divorces, this is the big one. With a joint fortune running into billions, the world is braced for Kim Kardashian and Kanye West to divide up their assets after seven years of highprofile married life.
And what assets. With homes in the LA hills and ranches in Wyoming, not to mention a treasure trove of jewels and a €3.2m car collection, it is testament to the joint brand that the reality television star and the rapper built together.
It has emerged that thanks to a detailed prenuptial agreement that will largely determine the division of assets, the divorce will in all likelihood be amicable — even accounting for West’s frequently erratic behaviour.
Legal experts say the case is likely to have already been negotiated in private mediation between their attorneys, or with a private judge.
In court records lodged in Los Angeles the couple cite irreconcilable differences for their break-up, with Kardashian and West seeking joint custody of their four children.
“Both of them want nothing but the best for the kids,” a source said. “The kids will stay with Kim, but Kanye will be able to see them whenever he wants.”
It is being reported that Kardashian has a few concerns about West and the children, believing he needs caretakers and family members on hand to care for them, and is not around during bipolar episodes.
She has reportedly hired lawyer Laura Wasser, nicknamed “disso queen” due to her work on the divorces of high-profile celebrities including Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp and Britney Spears.
It all seems fitting for a marriage that was pored over by the media and public and was chronicled by Kardashian herself in her long-running reality show Keeping Up With the Kardashians and through their Instagram and Twitter accounts, followed by millions.
Both Kardashian, 40, and West, 43, were global celebrities before marrying, but as a couple they combined their celebrity star status to reach new levels of wealth. Their brand has come to define the recent phenomena of social mediadriven mega-fame.
The beginning of the end of the marriage comes after the September announcement that the show that made her family’s name, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, was coming to an end in 2021 after 14 years.
It was the first marriage for Kanye, and the third for Kim. While the union wasn’t long, it outlasted
the predictions of many cynics who thought doom was inevitable given the two oversized personalities, West’s well-known volatility and the fact that Kardashian’s previous marriage, to former NBA player Kris Humphries, was fleetingly brief.
Kardashian’s first marriage at age 19 in 2000 to music producer Damon Thomas lasted until 2004, and in 2011, she married Humphries in a heavily hyped wedding that was televised in a two-part special on Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
She filed for divorce less than three months later, though was still legally married in 2012 when she and West, a friend for years who had paid tribute to her in his songs, became a couple, and she became pregnant. West proposed later in 2013 using the giant screen at the empty waterfront ballpark of the
San Francisco Giants.
The reality TV star tied the knot with the rapper at the Renaissance era Forte Di Belvedere fortress in Florence in May 2014 — and then flew into Cork Airport to spend a five-day honeymoon in Ireland where they stayed at Castle Oliver in Ardpatrick, Co Limerick, and at Ballyfin House in Co Laois.
The pair took a bike tour around the Ballyhoura Way and Blackrock Loop, and ate a picnic prepared by
The Old Bakehouse in Bruff. They also managed to get in a single pint of Guinness at a local pub. They managed to avoid the paparazzi in Ireland and despite their high profile, only a few lucky fans managed to snap photos of them here. However they were spotted going to the pictures in Portlaoise and Tullamore.
All very nice for a midweek date in the Midlands — but not the sort of honeymoon you might expect of a couple who — according to Forbes magazine — were worth more than €2bn.
Forbes say Kardashian is worth €640m, largely through her cosmetics business KKW Beauty, while West is said to be worth €1.5bn through his hugely successful fashion brand, Yeezy. Both will retain control of their respective brand empires.
But the wheels started coming off the “Kimye” bandwagon a while ago.
The marriage was rarely far from the headlines. In October 2016 the couple were rocked when Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint during Paris Fashion Week. Raiders bound and gagged the star and Kardashian later admitted she thought she would be killed. The thieves reportedly stole jewellery worth €8m.
West was midperformance in New York when he learned of the incident. A month later he was taken to hospital, reportedly suffering from “temporary psychosis due to sleep deprivation and dehydration”. He cancelled his tour to recover — but it was not the last time his mental state would make the headlines.
In June 2018, West released the album Ye and publicly declared he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He had earlier been strongly criticised for suggesting slavery in the US had been a “choice”.
As recently as last year Kanye’s failed presidential bid (he received just 60,000 votes across 12 states) put a strain on their marriage. The rapper also made a string of wild allegations against Kardashian and her family on Twitter and at a campaign rally in July. West claimed she had considered aborting their fourth child, and suggested that divorce had been on the cards since she met the singer Nicki Minaj’s ex Meek Mill at a hotel in 2018.
Kanye later issued a public apology to Kim, who defended him and spoke about his struggle with bipolar disorder, saying he is a “brilliant but complicated person” whose “words sometimes do not align with his intentions”.
The rapper has reportedly been living at his ranch in Wyoming while Kim has been with the children in LA — and though their marriage fell victim to the seven-year itch, it lasted a lot longer than her 72-day marriage to basketball player Kris Humphries.
Sources suggest Kanye is likely to keep the two ranches in Wyoming, each valued at €12m, while Kim will probably keep the couple’s 15,667 sq ft mansion in Hidden Hills, Los Angeles, which they bought in 2014 for $20m, spending another $20m in renovations.
More details could be revealed in the upcoming — and final — series of