Kim Kardashian’s Rare Interview About Kanye West: Takeaways

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Kim Kardashian Is Worried Future Boyfriends Will Be ‘Scared’ of Kanye West and More ‘Angie Martinez IRL’ Podcast Takeaways

Kim Kardashian has stayed fairly mum when it comes to her rocky post-split relationship with Kanye West — until now. The reality star got real and emotional during an interview on the “Angie Martinez IRL” podcast and in case you missed it, Us Weekly is breaking down the biggest revelations.

“I feel free of things,” Kardashian, 42, said after breaking down over West, 45, earlier in the interview, which dropped on Monday, December 26. “There’s moments — you’ll have your moment, but I’d say in this last year, this year for me, even though I got emotional before talking about Kanye, I feel free in the sense that I am not anybody else, I don’t hold anybody else’s thoughts, opinions, burdens, and I used to hold this guilt that I wasn’t there to fix situations, and I wasn’t there to put it all back together. … [Now] I’m free.”

Kardashian, who filed for divorce from West in February 2021, shares four kids with the rapper: North, 9, Saint, 6, Chicago, 4, and Psalm, 3. Since their split, West has made a series of allegations against Kardashian, including that she didn’t let him see the children and wouldn’t compromise on schools.

“The testing of my character to make me look, like, out of my character is the one thing that’s hard. Because there’s already so many people have that energy … that are, like, these haters of me and the fam anyway. So it’s really hard when there’s people that were once close [making false claims],” Kardashian explained. “Especially for my kids — like, why would you even want to anyone to think that of your mom? … That’s what’s hard for me.”

West has also made Kris Jenner a target, claiming in lengthy rants that the momager made Kardashian pose for Playboy — and could encourage his daughters to do the same — and blaming Jenner for coparenting issues.

“I get really protective over my mom,” Kardashian continued, nearly getting emotional again. “But I handle it all internally. … I just not that type to go back and forth on the Internet. I live my life on a f–king reality show. … The s–t I know and the s—t that I’ve been through, it’s wild.”

Prior to Kardashian’s split from Pete Davidson, whom she dated for nearly a year, West came under fire threatening the comedian.

“It was just so new. I didn’t know what dating was for so long. I’d been in a relationship for almost 15 years, 12 years, something like that. I don’t know, there’s a part of me that’s like, ‘Oh, my God, is everyone going to be scared because I don’t have the easiest ex?’” the Keeping Up With the Kardashians alum said. “I don’t think that’s fair to ever put someone in a situation. … But then there’s a side of me that’s like, ‘Wait, what? Why would I ever have to live that way?’”

Scroll through for more from Kardashian:

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Coparenting With Kanye

“I definitely protected him, and I still will in the eyes of my kids. For my kids. So, in my home, my kids don’t know anything that goes on [in] the outside world,” Kardashian said of West, who has also lost several business deals after making antisemitic comments in recent months. “I am holding on by a thread. I know that I am so close to that not happening, but while it is still that way, I will protect that to the end of the Earth as long as I can. My kids don’t know anything. So, at school, some of my best friends are the teachers so I know what goes on at recess and lunchtime. I hear what is being talked about.”

She cried when speaking about how “really f—king hard” it is to coparent with West.

“Of course I want to disassociate in specific thoughts and things being said because that’s not me, but at the same time in my home like I could be going through something, but if we’re writing to school and they want to listen to their dad’s music no matter what we’re going through, 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,” she said.

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North ‘Runs’ Her

“I just truly want them to be happy in what they do,” Kardashian said, noting that her eldest daughter loves to rap like West. “I have very, very happy babies. They are such good kids. So happy and kind. And they are probably my biggest reality check. My morning madness to get four babies ready for school is insanity.”

The Kardashians star also joked that there’s truth to the idea that North “runs” her — which is why fans will see the mom of four on their joint TikTok account.

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Dealing With Kanye’s ‘Crazy S—t’

Kardashian noted that she “started to slowly feel” a “separation” between her and West in the eyes of the public after she filed for divorce. “But I think that will always follow me,” she admitted.

“You ask me about the grace. One day, my kids will thank me for not sitting here and bashing their dad when I could. Of course all the crazy s–t … it kills me for my family,” she said. “If they don’t know things that are being said, why would I ever bring that energy to them? That is real, heavy, grownup s—t that they are not ready to deal with. When they are, we will have those conversations. One day my kids will thank me for not sitting here and bashing their dad. I could.”

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Dating After Pete Split

“I’m definitely in my fun zone,” Kardashian said, adding that she’s hopeful her “person” will be able to navigate West and dating in the spotlight. “I don’t know if I’ll get married again, but I’ll have my forever partner. I know that. He’s coming, absolutely. … I’m at peace and I’m gonna have fun until that happens.”

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When She Chooses to Clap Back at Kanye

“If I’m in a petty mood, I’ll go back and I’ll be like, ‘OK, I have all the receipts. You want to mess with me on this? Oh, my God, the receipts I have,’ but then I go back to my babies,” Kardashian said of dealing with West’s public outbursts. “I’m the one that’s at home with them 24/7, and they will feel my energy, and if I have to go and deflect every ridiculous thing that is said about me — even if it’s from the person who was closest to me and [who will] still will post ‘I’m your protector — if I go and let the energy in my life to say ‘this one’s not true’ … I go back and forth on that. Sometimes I get heated [because] it affects a lot of people. And that’s the hardest part of figuring it out. But sometimes you just have to say this isn’t the energy I’m going to let into my life, and I have to rise above it and not be in this … for my mental health and my sanity.”

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Balenciaga Controversy

“With the Balenciaga thing, everyone was like, ‘Why aren’t you speaking out?’ And I was like, ‘Wait, I’m not in this campaign, I don’t know what’s happening. Let me take a minute to research this. And as soon as I saw what everyone was seeing on the internet and the reality of the situation I completely spoke out and gave my thoughts on child pornography. I completely denounced it,” Kardashian said. “But because I didn’t say, ‘f—k you, Balenciaga, that’s it,’ people got mad at that. So it’s like, they’re mad if I don’t speak out. They’re mad if I do speak out, and if I don’t cancel. …It’s never been my place. The point of life is to make mistakes and to grow and to involve and be better people. Obviously, there is absolutely no place for an ounce to even play with anything with children. Any sexualization of children, there’s not an ounce of that should be in our brains, in our society. I get that. I couldn’t have been more clear, this is horrifying, this is disturbing.”

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‘No One Wants to Work’ Controversy

“The context in that was I had just been doing interviews for the last few weeks on people to work in my office. Everyone had all of these [requests like], ’I only want these hours, I want Fridays off, I don’t want to do this, I don’t want to do this, so I’ll only do this.’ I come from a time when we just grinded and everyone that I’m super close with that has built our businesses together,” Kardashian said about her infamous “advice for women in business” comment from earlier this year. “We would just kind of do anything any job. Get it all together, even if it wasn’t our job, we’d ask for something we just get it done. … Coming from, like, that workaholic mindset, I think I just came off of all those interviews being like ‘damn like no one really wants to work.’ Everyone had all these like provisions of what they wanted in their job.”